My Friend, The Wraith
by frankie the elf
Summary: A little girl befirends a wraith child, and then they are torn apart. When they meet again they are thrown into a veritable sea of adventures, rife with trouble and neardeath experiences.
1. Chapter 1

**My Friend, the Wraith**

_By: Frankiewraith_

Hey y'all wraith fans out there, I'm sort of new to this whole online fanfic stuff, so bear with me. I just had this genius idea for a story after watching the Steve episode of Stargate Atlantis for the second time…….okay the third time…..fourth time…..what say we round it up to ten and leave it at that? Anyway, my imaginary friend Seth, insisted I write this, especially since our wonderfully brilliant author of the Adventures of Steve the Wraith seems to be slacking of as of late. Wow it's hard to write on a laptop in a moving vehicle. Anyway, this story is sort of loosely based on what would happen if me and my imaginary friend Seth, who, yes you guessed it, is a wraith, grew up in the Pegasus Galaxy. It's a little childish at the start, but somewhat humorous. I hope you will stick with it until we get to the goods. And for all you fans of the main characters, be patient I'll get to them eventually.

Chapter 1 – When we were children

"Back wraith! Or I'll skewer you to bits! I'm mighty warrior princess Vicky!" Ten year old Vicky Smithsdotter raised her stick menacingly. "Won't back down, eh? Well I gotta protect my village!" She thrust her stick forward.

The air filled glro'k bladder deflated with a sound that made Vicky giggle. It sounded like her flatulent uncle when he let loose a long one. Her giggle turned to a gasp as she heard an eerie whistle overhead. A loud crash sounded behind it. Game forgotten, she ran in the direction of the crash.

She came to a small meadow where the wreckage of a strange device Vicky had never seen before, lay smoking.

"Help!" a weak voice sounded. "Somebody help me!'

Vicky circled the strange device, searching for the source of the plea. She spotted a ragged hole in the side of it and dropped on all fours to look inside. She could see the head and right arm of a small boy reaching out towards her.

"I'm stuck!' The boy coughed. "Pull me out!"

Vicky spotted the problem immediately through the smoke and dust; the boy was stuck underneath a body. She could only see the legs, and used them to roll the body off the boy. As she did, the top half of the body cam into her immediate line of sight. The face to be specific. It was terrifying up close. It had dirty dreadlocks that draped into her face like eratus limbs and the face was covered in some sort of grotesque mask, like cracked mud. It seemed to come to life before her very eyes. Her scream was stifled only by a sudden cough from the smoke rapidly entering her lungs.

"It's only your nerves; it's only your nerves." She told herself. She didn't take a second look at the face anyway.

"Hurry! I can't breathe!" The boy cried.

She rolled out of the hole for a deep breath of fresh air before she ducked back inside and pulled the boy out by his arm.

The smoking wreck suddenly caught fire and creaked ominously. The boy's eyes widened.

"RUN!" He grabbed her arm and together they sprinted for the cover of the trees. The force of the exploding ship blasted them into the air and through the trees.

"OW! Gerroff me! OwowowowOW!" Nikki pushed the boy's slight yet heavy frame off of her. She curled up into a ball, holding her head.

"Man, oh man, I'm gonna have a goose egg the size of my pappy's foot!" She uncurled and rubbed the fast growing lump on her head. She unscrunched her eyes.

"Are you okay?" A face was up close and personal with hers.

"Yikes!" Vicky scrambled backwards like a crab. "Don' scare me like that!"

She looked the boy up and down. He wore loose black clothing of a cloth she'd never seen before. He had chin length starch-straight white hair and a weird pale grayish green complexion. He had an odd pointed ridge above each eyebrow, which actually looked sort of cool. He had twin scars, one on each prominent cheekbone that mirrored each other. Last, his thin lips parted ever so slightly to reveal strange pointed teeth. All in all, though he looked strange, he kinda looked cute. She'd never tell him that though.

"You're weird looking. What's wrong with you?" she said bluntly.

"Huh?" He blinked. He stared at her.

"What're you lookin' at me like that for? Wanna fight shorty?"

"You are a human!" He said with some surprise.

"When'd you figure that one out genius?" She shot sarcastically. "What're you supposed to be?"

"I'm a wraith stupid!"

"Don't call me stupid, stupid!"

"I'm not stupid"

"Yes you are"

"Are not!"

"Are to"

"Nu uh!"

"Ya hah!'

"Nuh uh! You didn't even know what I was!"

"Well, sor-ry your royal high and mightiness!"

"Hmmph!' He crossed his arms. The silence extended.

"You're pretty harmless looking for a wraith," Vicky said with a skeptical look. "Pappy said wraiths are big scary mean monsters that get you in the night if you're bad. You don't look mean or scary. An' yer shorter than me!"

She paused.

"I'm hungry. How bout you? Feelin' peckish?" She asked getting herself and brushing herself off.

"Starved" he said as he got up.

"Otay, common!' She half turned then stopped.

"Wait, I'm Vicky. What's your name?"

"Name?" He asked confused. "I'm called a wraith"

"No stupid. Yer called a wraith, but what's yer name? Like, I'm called a human, but my name's Vicky."

He just stared. She gasped.

"You don't have a name?" She said dramatically.

"I don't know what a name is."

"You know, a name. What people call you when they want your attention or when you're in trouble?"

"Nobody calls me anything, they just call me."

"Then, how do you know it's you?"

"Because they're talking to me."

"But how do you know it's you they're talking to in particular?" Vicky said, straining over the big adult word.

"Because when they say something they're saying it to me"

"But how do you know that?"

"You just do!"

"But what if I'm looking at you an' Sal and I want to say something to you. How does Sal know I'm not saying it to him iffen I don't say your name?" Vicky asked.

"You only say it to me."

"But if I say it, both of yous are gonna hear it."

"If you're not talking to more than one person you only telepath to me."

"Tele-what?" Vicky asked

"You can't telepath?"

"What's that?"

"You know, talk by thinking? With your mind?"

"How do you do that?"

Pause. The boy-wraith screwed up his face in concentration.

"I said to nod if you could hear me!" Seth stamped his foot.

"Ye did not!" Vicky protested.

"Oh, then you didn't hear me."

"How could I hear you if ye didn't say nuthin?" Vicky yelled frustrated.

"I tried to telepath."

"Oh."

Pause.

"What do you want to be named?" Vicky asked.

"I dunno"

"How 'bout Seth?"

"How bout Death?" Seth said dramatically.

"I like Seth better."

"Okay," he shrugged. "I'm still hungry……Vicky"

"Right this way…..Seth"

∞

"Um….maybe I should stay here." Seth said nervously. "The others say humans will kill me if I am alone."

Vicky was about to ask why, when she remembered how her father spoke of the wraith to his adult friends. They always boasted about how many wraith they could kill while drunk. She couldn't imagine killing Seth. Then she'd never see him again. He wasn't a monster like her pappy told her. He was just a kid like her. Wraith were people too…..weren't they? If they could talk and all…..

"Um…okay. I'll get some munchies and well go play in my super secret fort! This'll be fun!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2- Culling

Thanks for the reviews! I love u whoever u are! Anyway, again, I do not own Stargate Atlantis, it would be cool if I was a writer there but whatever. STEVE ROCKS TOO! And bob 2 I guess. Ew Michael has an awful haircut. Doesn't match his face at all. The actor plays a guy in star trek. okay babble over On to chapter 2!

"Vikki's been going off by herself a lot lately" Jonathen Smith commented to his wife, Sera.

"She loves those woods" Sera sighed carrying the basket of laundry to the line.

"What fun could you have in the woods anyway?" He wondered aloud. "She used to enjoy sparring with the boys."

"You know husband," She said, snapping a towel over the line. "Most mothers would insist their daughters attend to more ladylike business" Sera muttered.

"Not my girl!" Jonathen proclaimed proudly. "She's got the heart of a true warrior, that one! Just like her father."

"Well she's been by herself for weeks now and it bothers me."

"Alright. I'll see what she's been up to." Jonathen wiped his hands.

"While you're at it, think about what sort of wife that wild warrior girl will make……if she ever gets married."

"Ach. She's pretty enough."

"Also tell her I'm not impressed that she took apart my loom."

"It's harmless curiosity. And it works better no?"

"I suppose."

∞

Seth could hardly contain his impatience. Vikki said she might get actual wooden practice swords for them to spar with. So far sticks had been their only practice weapons. They were rather proud of their warrior skills.

He moved to the edge of the woods close to the village. It was risky, but he liked watching them. The humans. The others said they were stupid, dumb animals who had no other reason to exist but to satisfy the hunger of the wraith. He couldn't understand how, though, you couldn't very well eat them. Could you?

He couldn't imagine eating Vicky. Then he'd never see her again.

He heard a whistling buzz. His eyes widened in recognition; Darts!

He nearly leapt for joy_. I'm going home_ Then it hit him. The others would kill Vikki. Because Vikki was a human.

∞

Jonathen heard the Darts first. The Wraith! He ran through the village searching for Vicky. His cries for her name rang out alongside the town bell.

People screams echoed around him, their erratic movement making him dizzy. People vanished in beams of light as the darts descended on the village.

He spotted Vicky, standing in the open as a beam of light advance on her. She stood frozen, watching her approaching doom.

Suddenly a small shape detached from the crowd and leapt for Vicky. They both vanished in the Wraithlight.

"No!" He shouted half sobbing as he ran to the last place she had stood. And then, he himself vanished in a beam of light.

"Seth?" Vicky called out, pushing her way through the crowd of ten or so hysterical adults. They were crowded in a small room of unusual design.

"Vicky?" Seth pushed his way through the people…or rather they parted in fear before him. They hugged.

"What's going on Seth?"

He looked as if he was about to answer when the door opened. Three fully adult wraith stood in the doorway, only one with a visible face. The people collectively backed away. Seth appeared to be listening to something.

"The others are calling me home, Vicky." He said and walked towards the adult Wraith.

"Don't leave me Seth!" Vicky cried catching his hand.

"I'll see you later. I promise." He smiled and pulled away. He walked to the adult Wraith.

"Wait! I wanna go with you!" Vicky halted when the adult with a face stepped in front of her. He leaned down and smiled, showing those horrible teeth.

"You have the makings of a worshiper." He said in a really scary voice.

Vicky gulped. What did that mean?

Another wraith nodded and grabbed her arm.

"Don't touch her!" A woman cried. Her mother approached the wraith the adult with the face slammed his hand into Sera's chest and hissed. Sera gave a prolonged strangled scream as she aged before Vicky's very eyes. She then shriveled up like a dried grain husk and fell to the floor.

Vicky started screaming. She didn't stop when the wraith that had a hold of her arm picked her up and carried her out of the room.

Vicky had been standing, alone, for some time in a cocoon. Her temple itched, where it had been branded with some sort of wraith symbol, but she couldn't scratch it as her arm was pinned securely to her side. Her throat was sore and her voice harsh from crying out for somebody. The wraith had left her there, saying it would be all right soon, that she would be amoung humans again.

She was so scared.

"Viiiiiiickyyyyyy……" A voice echoed down the corridor.

"Seth!" Vicky yelled at the top of her lungs, causing much pain to her raw throat "I'm over here!"

Seth rounded a corner and sprinted down the corridor. He went up to the cocoon and activated the release. The webbing retracted and Vicky tumbled out.

"Are you okay?" Seth helped her onto wobbly legs. She looked up at him with watering eyes.

'They killed mother….she's gone."

"I'm sorry," He said.

She stubbornly wiped away her tears. "S'not yer fault."

"Snot, lovely."

Vicky giggled.

Seth traced the itchy brand on her face with his finger.

Vicky scratched it "Do you know what it's for?"

"It says 'Sister of the Wraith' in my language"

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Oh." Vicky found that the one over her heart itched worse and attacked it with her nails. "What's yours mean?" She asked noticing he had one now too. It was black against the pale green skin on the side of his left cheek and temple .

"Guardian of the sleeping wraith. And since this one matched the one you have here," he pointed at her temple, "it means I'm your caretaker."

"That's' a long one." She said. "What's a worshiper?"

"I dunno."

"Right." Vicky paused. "Now what?"

"I'm going to get you out of here. I don't want you to die." Seth took her hand. "C'mon"

"Kay." The two ran down the corridor hand in hand. Seth's felt weird sort of clammy-like. Just like usual. A small comfort in Vicky's worst nightmare.

∞∞

"I've programmed the ship to send you to another planet with humans on it. You don't have to do anything. It knows its way.' Seth told Vicky. " Here's some extra food I got from my own stores. In case you get hungry."

"You're not coming with me are you?" Vicky asked quietly.

He shrugged, "This is home."

He hugged her. Vicky sniffled and stifled a sob. He straightened and put his hand on the hatch lever.

"Wait!" Vicky protested.

"What?"

"Let's swear." Vicky said. "Swear to be best friends forever."

Seth crawled on to the seat beside her.

"Kay"

Vicky put up her hands. Seth placed his on hers, palm to palm.

"Repeat after me," Vicky said importantly. "I swear."

"I swear." He echoed.

" I solemnly swear."

"I solemnly sear."

"To be best friends with you."

"To be best friends with you."

"Forever and ever"

"Forever and ever"

"Until our big messy ends.'

"Until our big messy-Hey!" Seth protested.

Vicky giggled, "Say it!"

Seth rolled his eyes, "Until our big messy ends"

"I promise.'

"I promise"

They tried to d the customary forehead touching. It was more like forehead knocking.

"Ow," Vicky rubbed her head." You got a hard head"

"Yeah?" Seth challenged, "Well, you got a big thick skull."

Vicky gave him a playful cuff over the head.

Seth crawled out of the ship. He prepared to close the hatch.

"Wait!" Vicky called.

"What now?" He asked exasperatedly.

"I love you."

"What?!"

"I love you," Vicky repeated. "You say it to people you care about. Like if you died I'd be really sad. It means I love you."

"Okay, I guess that means I love you too." The words were unfamiliar and awkward to his tongue.

"Yay!" Vicky smiled, her eyes scrunching up like usual. "You sure you can't come?"

"Goodbye Vicky."

"Bye Seth," Vicky leaned up and gave him one last hug before she had to go. Seth closed the hatch.

The ship hummed to life and shot out of the first part of the cargo bay and into the air lock. Seth watched it go away. It finally hit him that he was likely never to see her again. He'd never felt so sad in his life.

Outside Vicky watched as the landed wraith ship shrank in the distance. When the Dart activated the Gateway and flew through, Vicky let go of he tears she'd been holding inside.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Ah…we meet again.

Six years later.

Your training is complete The other said to Seth telepathically. Two years from now, you will be ready for your first feeding 

Seth nodded, carefully hiding the revulsion in his thoughts.

For now you will be the weapons officer in your rank as Guardian of the Sleeping Ones the other walked from the room and Seth fell in step behind him.

You know where the armory is. You may select any number of weapons of your choice. You have been assigned Dart 421. Excuse me a moment 

The other paused at a cocoon. A strong muscular human slept inside. He awoke abruptly when the wraith began feeding upon him.

Seth felt a twisting in his insides, as he did every time he witnessed a feeding.

The other sighed with satisfaction.

You have several hours of short hibernation before you are expected at your post. 

Yes sir 

Dismissed 

Seth dismissed the mental link between, a habit he had recently acquired as a secondary defense for his private thoughts. Thoughts the other wraith would have him executed for. Weak thoughts. Most Wraith were mentally connected to any and every Wraith within range. Seth liked to be alone and rid of the thoughts of others. If other Wraith found this odd, they said nothing. It was likely they didn't care.

He had new quarters, to go with his new rank, it was an honor to receive a duty before he reached adulthood. If the others weren't asleep and if there hadn't been a shortage of Guardians, he would not have achieved it. Once in his cot, he entered a light hibernation. Guardians never got to enter real hibernation which could last hundreds of years.

This night like many others, he suffered from nightmares. He was watching another Wraith feed. He tried to look away as the sick feeling in his stomach escalated. But the human called to him. He looked at the human, and it turned into a woman. The same woman it had always turned into, somehow from his childhood six years ago. Suddenly, he was feeding on the woman, he couldn't pull away and he suffered a horrible fear that crept all over him, a fear of himself and for the human. The dream took a new turn and he dreamed something he never had before. The woman turned into a little girl. A little girl he recognized.

"No!" he woke abruptly falling from his cot. "Vicky…" he remembered her name. He remembered why the woman was so familiar, Vicky was her daughter. The memories of his childhood came rushing back. The weeks of laughter and…..fun. A little girls face, a perpetual winning smile, the laughter echoed in his head.

He felt afraid. What if she was captured? The wraith would feed on her. He couldn't imagine her dying. No, the wraith would not awaken for another fifty years, there weren't enough humans to go around yet. She would have died of old age by then.

In any case, there would be no further hibernation for him this day. He walked down an unfamiliar corridor to inspect his ship, a corridor on the mental map he had received from his superior.

"Hey!" a high voice said from beside him. His heart skipped a beat. He turned slowly. In a cocoon, near the bottom a small human child was held.

"It's so dark…..have you seen my daddy?"

He backed away in horror as his hibernation deprived mind pictured Vicky in her place.

"Where are you going?"

He turned and ran trying to block her scared little voice.

"Don't leave me!" The little girl's voice echoed with another's, one from the past.

_"Don't leave me Seth!"_

He ran blindly towards the launch bay. He couldn't stay here any longer, Vicky might be safe from the Wraith but what about other children? And the other humans? Every human had children, sisters and brothers, or mothers and 'pappys'…..And best friends. He couldn't save them all. But he would not protect those who stole their lives from them. And he would not allow himself to become one of them…the adults.

Before he knew what was happening, he'd found himself in his Dart. He ran through the planets on the screen before him, intending to pick one at random. One caught his eye, more than once as he let the list circulate. He sighed, and decided to pick it. He might as well spend his last days somewhere familiar, if it was indeed familiar.

∞

Victoria strapped her twin blades across her back, and as she picked up her hand guns and hunting rifle, she caught her own reflection in the mirror over her dresser. The elegant yet sinister tattoo still gave her pause, even after six years. Partially covered by her long, fine, bleached blonde hair, the symbols seemed to twist and wind from her temple to part of her forehead and peeked out under her eye along the top of her cheekbone. Vana said it was pretty, and turned men's heads, but to Victoria, it would always be a cruel reminder of her past.

She did up a few more connectors on her red leather jacket to cover up the tattoo over her heart. She looked up and saw Vana's reflection in the mirror.

"I don't know why ye carry those swords of yers out on a hunt. What do ye expect to find out there? A wraith?" She asked crossing her arms and leaning on the doorjamb.

Victoria rolled her eyes. "It's so I can finish off a kat'rk that isn't quite dead after I've shot it." She turned to face her friend.

"If that was the reason you'd carry a proper hunting knife." Vana snorted.

"Oh, what do you know about hunting?' Victoria growled tying back her waist-length hair into a long whip-like ponytail. 'I like the familiarity and security."

Vana turned to walk out of the room and into the third floor hallway.

"I think maybe ye just like to show off." Vana grinned imagining the glare her friend was probably sporting at the moment.

Victoria couldn't think of a smart retort so she just glared at her friend's back as she escaped down the stairs.

"Don't make me smack you Vana Innkeeper!" Victoria yelled down the stairs as she followed.

"Just you try it warrior girl!"

Seth's stomach growled. He'd need to find sustenance soon. He was no tracker and he was having difficulty sneaking up on the animal he'd found after hours of searching.

Finally, his pains were rewarded. The fleet four legged creature had paused in a clearing and wasn't paying any attention to him. It occurred to him that perhaps the wind had changed and his disturbing scent was no longer being carried to the creature's senses.

It was a long shot, but he dare not draw closer. This would be his only chance. He lined up the sights on his stunner.

Suddenly a red light shot into the creature, felling it. Startled, he fired. The shot went wide, but he knew it would not go unnoticed by the hunter who had stolen his prey.

He heard a gasp and rustling branches to his left. He turned to run, the hunter, human no doubt, chasing close behind him.

Victoria circled around her prey. Curios as always, she needed to know what that blue light was, mostly to satisfy herself, but also to ensure the safety of the people of her village. She'd never seen a weapon that fired blue shots before. She crouched behind some rocks and waited. She saw a fleeting figure dart towards her through the foliage. Another hunter? She wondered.

The hunter burst through a large cluster of ferns before her. He didn't notice her until he was almost on top of her. By then it was too late. She had noticed him. Victoria stood up, staring.

Every nerve in her body quivered as her instincts screamed at her to run the hell out of there. But her fear rooted her to the spot. The man before her, was a wraith.


	4. Chapter 4

i do not own stargate or its characters blah blah blah u already know that. this is a pretty long chapter. it was supposed to be two but im too lazy to break it up. anyway. sorry bout the wait. i kind of dont like this chapter but its important to the story. how often do u guys check this anyway?

Chapter four- juggling relationships

Buckles gleamed on his black leather outfit and on his belt, which held two small hand held weapons. Long fine white hair cascaded past his shoulders, contrasting the long flowing black leather coat. He had a strange black tattoo that twisted over his temple and prominent brows. Under his brows, two reptilian bright blue eyes rested, blue eyes so uncharacteristic for wraith.

After a long silence, she noticed he wasn't moving any closer. He seemed almost just as afraid and indecisive. The forest was incredibly quiet. A small breeze blew her bangs to the side, revealing her tattoo. The wraith's eyes widened.

_It does mean 'Sister of the Wraith' after all_, Victoria thought.

"Vicky?" he spoke, in a strange raspy voice.

She frowned, how could he know…..then she gasped. Bright blue eyes…..the matching tattoo.

"Oh my god….." She whispered. "Seth." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. It was him, a figure from the past.

"You remember me." He said in his sad, alien voice.

She walked up to him. She stopped inches from him. Out of nowhere, she leaned forward and hugged him.

"I missed you." It was true. Every day since she had come to this planet, she wondered what had become of him. She missed her best friend.

Startled, Seth awkwardly embraced her back. She pulled away and looked up at him. Then she frowned and glared.

He shrank back at this sudden change of mood.

"No…..freaking….way." She stamped her foot. "That is so NOT FAIR!"

"What? What?" he asked, confused.

"Yer freaking taller then me! By a head! What the bloody monkeys!"

She pouted at him "I used to be taller than you."

He gave her a look and then rolled his eyes.

She laughed.

"I'm glad to have you back Seth." What brings you to my humble home?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, how much time do you have before…." Victoria winced.

"Before I must feed?" Seth spat disgustedly, "Two years"

Victoria was silent for awhile, introspective. She had changed a lot since he had last seen her, those six years ago. She was thinner, taller and she seemed more graceful, her voice more musical. Her eyes even greener than before. He was captivated by her hair, a long sheet of creamy-white silk. She wore a tight fitting red jacket over tight red leather pants and a black silken shirt. None of which concealed much of her figure. The last thought made his face heat up with embarrassment.

Suddenly her face lit up as her mood suddenly shifted.

"I guess we just got to make the best of what time we've got!" She declared. "C'mon let's go do something!"

"I want to hear about you first. I told you my life story." He protested.

Vicky sat back down with a sigh.

"Okay, okay." She looked at the weapon that lay across his knees and the two at his hips.

"But afterwards, you gotta show me how to use those."

8

Vana awoke to a clatter outside by Vicky's shop. _What in damnation?_

Vana rolled off the bed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she walked over to the window. Outside, Vicky was loading the ship she'd been working on onto a trailer.

Vana opened the window.

"Hey, Vicky!" She shouted. Vicky looked up. "What're you up to?"

"I'm moving part of the shop!"

"Why?"

"For one thing, so I can work on my ship without waking people-"

"Too bloody late for that" Vana muttered.

"And secondly, I work better In the peace and quiet."

"Vicky, we're on the outskirts of town, this is as peace-like and quiet as yer going to get!"

"I'm moving it into the woods. Not too far in. You'll still be able to see it from town and it'll be on the highway still."

"I thought you liked the sounds of the city."

"Well, now I don't'"

Vana sighed and closed the window. _No point in trying to get back to sleep now._

Vana sighed in frustration as she saw yet another guest come into the inn to have dinner or a drink. She would normally be glad for such a boom of business, was she not so short of hands. Victoria had become such a loner lately, spending all of her spare time, and then some, alone in the woods. Vana, concerned had confronted her about it many months ago, after it had become apparent Victoria's sudden introverted mood wasn't going to blow over. Vicky had promised to be more helpful tomorrow. But tomorrow ad turned into next week and weeks had turned into months….and still, she only returned home with a kill or to sleep.

Vana missed her company….and her able help. Strangely though, despite besides her sudden desire to be alone, her bright cheery personality had not changed. She seemed bored at home, yes, and perhaps like she wanted to tell Vana a secret but didn't, but she was still a happy, lovable girl.

Vana supposed Vicky was finally buckling under the stress of juggling two jobs and her training. As a mechanic for wayward travelers she already had her hands full and Vana was surprised that Vicky found the time to help her around the inn, even if she closed the shop after sundown.

She hunted on her days off so Vana wouldn't have to expend too much money preparing meals for her guests.

"Evening, Vana!" A handsome man called as he entered the inn..

"Evening, Arktos." Vana said politely, blushing at this desirable man's attention. He was tall, with thick cocoa colored hair, a broad face with strong features and had muscles that would make a bull tk'ro jealous. Could he finally be turning his attention to her, after he had grown tired of the carpenters daughter?

"Seen Victoria around?" he asked with a smile that would make any woman feint.

_Of course_, Vana thought to herself bitterly, O_nce again, Vicky's looks bring home the gold._

"Can't say as I have," She said curtly. "You going to order something, or are you just going to put me out of business?"

"Nah, not tonight. I just wanted to know if she was around."

_Cheeky bastard_, Vana thought. _All the good-looking ones can't take a hint._

_-------------------------------------------------------------_

Victoria, trotted down the street to the Inn, whistling a happy tune. She'd finally gotten a bulls-eye from two hundred lengths, and Seth said her hand to hand combat was improving rapidly.

She came in through the front door smiling bright as the sun, though it was well in to the night. Most of the Inn's customers had wandered off to bed.

"It's about bloody time," Vana snarled, obviously in a terrible mood. She tossed Vicky a washcloth violently.

"The dishes await. Get to work." She snapped and headed off to bed.

Vicky winced and looked up at the pile of greasy dishes, she looked way up. Sighing, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work. She'd have to fix that washer sometime. It never ceased to amaze Vicky how much more advanced this world was compared to the one Vicky grew up in.

"Hello, Victoria." A smooth deep voice sounded behind her. She jumped and the hairs on the back of her neck bristled. Arktos Trion. The Lord's warrior son. She froze, heart beating rapidly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you" he breathed in her ear. Shivers ran down her spine.

"Do you need any help?" He asked with his dreamy voice. She blushed, not daring to look at him. She knew she wouldn't be able to reply if she wanted to……and he knew it.

He took a dry towel and began drying the dishes. She continued to blush furiously, especially when his hand brushed hers as he reached for a dish at the same moment she placed another in the drying rack. But he continued drying as if nothing had happened.

"I was wondering, Victoria," He said, deepening the 'o' in her name. "If you would join me for dinner tomorrow night, at the Red Rose.

Vicky's eyes widened, the Red Rose was a high class restaurant at the North end of town. He leaned on the counter so he could see her face.

"Well?" he asked. She'd only meant for her eyes to glance at him. But once they did, she couldn't look away. His captivating amber eyes pulled her in.

"Um…I.. um-" She stuttered.

"Good," he smiled and straightened. "I shall pick you up at sundown."

He brushed her neck with his fingers as he walked out of the kitchen and she shuddered once he was out of sight.

--------------------------------------------------------------

"He asked you to dinner?" Vana tittered excitedly "That's great, what did you say?"

"You're not mad? Or jealous? You seemed to be in a pretty bad mood last night." Victoria asked cautiously

"I was having a bad day. No, I'm happy for you." Vana said happily, "So what did you say?"

"I didn't say anything, he just assumed it was a yes." Vicky shrugged.

"How do you feel?"

"I dunno. I'm really nervous. He makes me feel…."

"Like you've ascended?" Vana said dreamily.

"…like I swallowed sour milk. I feel…uncomfortable."

"You don't like him?"

"Oh I like him all right, who doesn't?"

"I think you're misinterpreting your own feelings. I think you're in looooooove." Vana giggled.

Victoria rolled her eyes.

"In any case, I've got to make a quick run to the woods before I get back."

Vana frowned, "You mean the shop?"

Victoria realized her mistake too late.

"Yeah….of course."

_You're a terrible liar, Victoria Smithsdotter_. Vana thought to herself.

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey Seth!" a familiar voice called to him. Vicky was running up to him along the beach, a beautiful smile on her face, like usual.

"Hello, Vicky." He replied, smiling back warmly.

"I can't stay as long as I'd like today." She winced

He quirked a single questioning eyebrow. She blushed.

"Um….Arktos asked me to dinner." She shifted awkwardly.

"Why?" He asked, honestly not understanding the whole dinner date concept.

"Um because he….uh" Victoria struggled to explain "Let's just say, that in our culture, when a man asks a woman to dinner it means he's interested in a relationship with her."

Seth caught on to the concept.

"I see." He said in a monotone, smile gone. He felt a tightening in his throat he couldn't explain. It was making it hard to speak. _What's the matter with me?_ He berated himself.

"So yeah," Vicky ran her hand through her hair, "Um, Vana said something about wanting to get me dressed up and I have to um, catch dinner." She looked up with an unstable smile, 'so I'll see you later okay?"

"Fine." He very nearly snapped.

Vicky frowned, sensing his change of attitude.

"What's with you?"

He shook his head. And walked off.

Vicky felt tears gather at her eyes.

"Fine, be a jerk!" Vicky yelled at his back before she herself stomped off. She felt more hurt than ever before. She didn't understand why. They'd fought before. It was different this time, somehow. They were actually angry at each other. Why him though? Was he jealous that she'd finally decided to stop revolving her free time around him?

Vicky got a guilty feeling in her stomach. No, he wasn't like that. He never looked out for himself. Always other people, mainly her since she was the only human he'd actually met. _What's his problem then?_

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Vana winked at Vicky through the window as she was escorted out by her date. Vicky looked like she was going to throw up. Vana chuckled, oh how the incredibly confident have fallen.

When they disappeared around a corner Vana raced downstairs and out the back door. During the months of Vicky's suspicious behavior, Vana never found the chance, or the energy, to find out what was so important to Vicky in those woods. Or why she'd moved her shop there. Now she had it.

Vana ran to the shop, dark and silent at night. She opened the door, for the first time. Vana never bothered to go to the shop. She didn't have a vehicle, the farmer's market was within walking distance and she didn't care for mechanics. As long as it worked, she didn't care how.

She noticed a light was on in a back room. It was just like Vicky to waste electricity like that.

She walked towards it and stumbled over a lift device with a clang.

She mumbled some inaudible curses.

"Vicky? Is that you?" a strange deep voice called from the lighted room. "I want to apologize for acting the way I did when-"

The door to the lighted room opened illuminating Vana rubbing a very sore toe and framing a figure with light.

Vicky's secret was a person after all.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh no." Seth whispered in dread. "_Damn!_"

The young woman had stopped hopping on one foot and was now staring wide eyed and mouth open at him. She started babbling and stuttering in sheer terror. She opened her mouth to scream.

"Wait! Please don't!" Seth protested putting his finger to his lips.

"Why...the hell... not?" She said quietly, voice quavering.

"Please…it's not what it looks like," Seth tried to find the words to explain his predicament. "I haven't hurt anyone."

---------------------------------------------------------

Vicky felt a jumble of emotions run through her heart, in and out with every heartbeat. They made her feel ill.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Arktos quiried.

"Um yeah," Vicky said in a voice that was barely above a whisper. She took a mental deep breath and sorted out the emotions she was feeling and the questions she was asking herself. _What is love supposed to feel like?_ At the moment, she wasn't quite sure. When she looked at him, she felt her heart skip. She couldn't quite speak. She longed for him to hold her in his big arms and run his strong fingers through her hair. Did that mean she loved him? On the other hand, she didn't feel the spontaneous urge to hug or kiss him on the cheek. She didn't smile when he was around. If anything she just got nervous. She'd never been in a relationship before, what was it supposed to feel like?

She munched on her food as she pondered. Absently, she looked up at him, to see what he was doing. He was staring at her. She didn't quite like the glitter in his eyes when he looked at her. She covered her audible gulp with a swallow.

"So…" Vicky scrambled for a conversation starter. "How was your day?"

He began to recount his day in detail. By "in detail" I mean _every_ detail. _Boy he's full of himself ain't he?_ When he was done telling her about his workouts, his kills, his victories in sparring, he bagan to talk about his family, his money, blah, blah, blah. He was very animated when he talked, and he talked loudly.

She attempted to entertain herself where he was so obviously failing. She ran her finger absently around her wine glass. It began to sing. She tilted her head, curious and ran her finger faster around the rim. It sang louder. Vicky smiled and then laughed lightly in delight. _Seth would love this!_ She looked up.

"This is so curious!" She said excitedly to Arktos "You should-"

She stopped herself before saying 'try it'. He was staring at her, with something like borderline disgust/contempt. When she looked up his expression changed rapidly and he threw a dazzling smile her way.

"That is interesting." He said.

Vicky sighed and slouched, _Seth would've liked it…_

-------------------------------------------------

Arktos walked Vicky to the back door of the inn. Arktos leaned in for a kiss but Vicky turned her face at the last minute. He got her cheek. He frowned but didn't pursue it.

"I will see you later then I suppose," Arktos said it more as a statement then a question.

"Yeahsureg'night" Vicky sputtered out before escaping through the door. She quietly tiptoed past the common room and bolted up the stairs. She'd rather not face Vana's prying questions. Especially since she had no answers.

The next day, as well as the day after that and the day after _that_, Vicky just could not have a spare minute to escape to the woods. Arktos followed her around from sun up to sun down. He bought her things, jewelry and dresses (which Vicky never wore anyway). He was a perfect gentleman and even tried being romantic, which wasn't so hard for someone so attractive.

At one point they stopped at a tattoo parlor that had just opened up in their town and he offered to pay for the removal of Vicky's wraith tattoos.

Vicky surprised herself by declining. Since Seth had come back, being linked to the wraith wasn't so bad. She liked having something that connected him to her.

"There is a dance tonight, near the Inn I believe. Will you join me?" Arktos gazed into Vicky's eyes. Vicky looked at him, heart jack hammering in her chest. Was he giving her a choice? What would she choose? Was she this committed? Did she love him?

_Stop thinking about it that way, think of what mother would do._ Vicky tried to drudge up some memory where she was actually paying attention to her mother talk of womanhood. The real question was, if she could choose anyone in her town to marry, who would it be? Vicky ran every available candidate, and found she had difficulty coming up with any. She used to know who fancied who, from her people watching expeditions with Vana, but that was months ago.

Yet even with her outdated gossip, she still came up with the same answer. Arktos had always been her first choice. Why then was she hesitating? Vana and Vicky had always chased after him. Why, now that she had him around her finger, did she hesitate?

She was already several years past when many girls married, probably because her parents weren't around to arrange it for her. But when it came down to it, Arktos was her first choice.

"Sure," She said, smiling in his prescence for the first time," i'd love to." She gave hima light kiss on the cheek and skipped away, leaving him with a triumphant smile on his face.


	5. Chapter 5

SHRIEK IM EXCITED! This chapters a little choppy but the ending is sweet! Tell me what u think!

Chaptah 5 yo! - When somebody loves you….

As Vicky seemed preoccupied with Arktos, Vana took it upon herself to make sure Seth didn't starve to death in the woods. Her first few visits had been awkward to say the least but she had eventually gotten used to him.

She decided she could trust him. There hadn't been any reports of missing persons nearby and he seemed to enjoy human food, so she put him under the mental category of 'harmless'. His story seemed pretty incredible, but it matched up with Vicky's.

He was, however, slightly moody. Sometimes she'd come to see him whipping rocks at full wraith strength into the water at the beach. Other times he's be sitting looking at his hands as if his best friend had died.

She spotted him, this time at the beach. He was chucking rocks again, but less emphatically. Actually it was less like chucking and more like tossing gently. He wasn't sad today though, just tired.

"Hey." Vana called out to him.

He looked over and smiled in greeting. His smile was fairly creepy, more like a 'I want to eat you' than a 'hello'. At least his lips covered his teeth when he smiled. When wraith smile, Vana noticed, their lips go from open, revealing many sharp pointy teeth, to closed, verses humans who generally show their teeth when they smile. Odd.

"Hello, Vana" He said, slowly and haltingly, as all wraith do. Is it because their teeth are getting in the way that they talk like that? Or is it just because they're bad at the Human language?

"Um hi," She replied. "I made you a few cheese sandwiches and left them in the cave."

He nodded and looked out to the horizon reflectively.

"What is she doing today?" He asked quietly. That was odd. His first question was usually "Is Vicky coming today?"

_I guess he's accepting that Vicky's moving on, _Vana thought.

"Well, tonight Arktos invited her to a dance"

Seth's jaw clenched at _his _name. Vana never noticed that before, _does he always do that?_

He frowned for a moment. Then he said:

"I would like to watch….I would like to watch this… 'dance' as you call it"

Seth crouched in the shadows beside Vana. He watched as the couples spun, almost hypnotically. He focused on one couple in particular.

Arktos held Vicky close. Too close, Seth thought and pointedly glared at Arktos' head, as if that might make him watch his distance.

----------------------------------------------

Vicky's heart was pounding. She was so close to him. She could feel his breath on her ear. This was what she wanted wasn't it? Yet, she could not look at his face.

--------------------------------------------

He felt as is he wanted to push him away from her. He did not like the look of that man at all. Arktos looked at Vicky as if….as if…Seth clenched his eyes to dispel the image from his head. The image of Arktos, attempting to…._mate_ with her.

She's a human, and is going to have to find a mate sooner or later. It was necessary. Yet, he still felt…betrayed.

She didn't want to offend him, so she leaned her head on his chest. Still, something wasn't quite right. Why did she still feel so withdrawn in his presence? She didn't want to look at him or smile for him…what was wrong?

----------------------------------------------

Why? He asked himself. We are best friends, and nothing will ever change that. So why do I feel so hurt? There was another feeling in there. One he had no word for yet.

He felt it when he watched the human male, Arktos, walk Vicky from her home one day, from his hiding spot in the edge of the forest. He felt it every time he saw them together.

Vicky tried not to think about it. Instead, her thoughts wandered. _I haven't seen Seth in awhile. I hope he's okay……. I miss him._

----------------------------------------------

He didn't want Vicky so close to Arktos. _Why?_ He wondered, and not for the first time.

On another note, what did she see in him? Why does she…_love_ him?

"Victoria," Arktos rumbled quietly. She looked up at him. "I…."Arktos started "I love you. More than I have wanted- loved" he corrected himself quickly. "any other woman."

_----------------------------------------------_

**_What does he have that I don't?!?_** He shocked himself at his last thought. _What am I thinking? Am I honestly considering this? That a human and a wraith should…._

_Maybe I am._ He thought. Then it dawned on him,_ I love her….._ _I **love** her…._

Arktos tilted her head back with his thumb and forefinger on her chin. Her heart pounded._ This is it._

_----------------------------------------------------------------------_

_But she could never love me. For I am a monster. And in a few weeks, I will be a danger to her._

He continued watching them. What he saw next made his blood boil. He stood up shaking with rage He turned and ran, not caring, for all the world, the noise he was making .

He vaguely heard the other human, Vana, call to him through the pounding in his head but he no longer cared. All he saw was red.

Arktos leaned down and crushed his lips to Vicky's.

_No!_ the inside of her head screamed

_This isn't what I want!_

She wrenched herself from Arktos' grasp and pushed him away.

_This is all wrong!_

_I don't love you!_

She suddenly realized she had said her last thought aloud. People gasped around her.

"I don't love you…." She repeated. She suddenly realized what she had been trying to tell herself all along. The person you love is someone whom you want to be with. Someone who's mere presence makes you smile.

It was not Arktos. She shook her head and slowly backed away, as the truth came upon her.

She burst into tears, she felt so horrible.

She wanted to be with Seth.

Vicky tore through the woods, tears streaming down her cheeks. _Why couldn't I have seen it earlier?_ She didn't love Arktos. He didn't love her for that matter. Not really. He just wanted her, like he had nearly admitted. He wanted her to satisfy his own desires. She had come so very close to making a huge mistake.

She collapsed, not being able to run any longer. Silent sobs wracked her body. Gradually though, she calmed down. When she did, she became aware of another sound. Hiccupping, she went to investigate.

It was Seth. He was tearing apart everything in his sight, in a blind rage. Much of the undergrowth was already trampled. The trees had half their bark missing and there were large gouges in the wood beneath, as if the enraged wraith had scratched at them with his talons over and over.

He stopped, breathing heavily. His head fell. She thought she saw something liquid drip from his eyes.

She hiccupped loudly.

He spun around and looked towards her hiding place. She stepped out from behind the tree, wringing her hands.

She sniffed, "h-hic-ello" her case of nasal congestion was apparent from the way her voice sounded.

Seth wanted to be angry at her. He wanted to be bitter. He wanted to demand what she wanted. But…he couldn't.

He could tell she'd been crying. He couldn't hurt her, like he did the last time he'd let his jealousy show.

"Victoria…what's the matter? All you alright?" he walked towards her concerned. "Did he hurt you?" He demanded with more sharpness than he intended.

"You're bleedig," She had taken his hands and was examining his finger tips. His nails were torn.

"They will heal. I am more concerned about you at the moment." He snapped

"I'm fine!" Vicky stubbornly wiped her tears away.

"No, you are not. What happened?"

"I made a misdake okay?" She sniffed trying to clear her nasal congestion.

"What mistake?"

"I jusd...I jusd….I dithcovered I don'd love Argtos okay?" She sighed in exasperation. She ripped part of her dress and blew her nose.

Seth blinked a few times_….she ..didn't love him?_

Vicky looked at his puzzled face. "What?"

"You…don't?" he'd never felt more relieved.

"No…he's an ass." Vicky mumbled. "I thought I did, but I don't"

"Oh"

"What happened to you?" Vicky asked, throwing away her makeshift handkerchief.

"Nothing."

"Yeah right. " Vicky snorted. "You don't tear up half the woods for no reason."

He struggled for words to explain himself.

"Unless you're a moron. So I guess you _do_ have an excuse."

He glared at her and she burst out laughing.

"Don't make me hurt you, human" he threatened

Vicky only laughed harder "As if you wou-"

Vicky was cut off as he tackled her, sending them both tumbling to the ground. After the ensuing tussle, Vicky managed to throw him on his back driving the wind out of his lungs. She kneeled over him.

"Aha! I am Vicky, Queen of the rock!" She declared.

"I am not a rock." Seth protested

"Contrary to popular belief," Vicky commented. Seth glared at her.

"All right, all right." Vicky conceded "I am Vicky, Queen of the wraith!"

Seth snorted loudly and started laughing hysterically.

"What's so funny?" Vicky pouted, honestly not getting her unintended joke. Seth just kept laughing.

"Tell me!" Vicky tickled him. As a reflex, he abruptly curled up, causing his knees to hit Vicky's butt. Which, in turn, caused her to fall on top of him, face inched from his.

He stopped laughing. Their eyes met.

Vicky was barely conscious of what she did next. On an impulse she leaned down and kissed him. She almost immediately pulled away and sat up. She covered her quickly reddening face and gasped.

Seth had the most astonished look on his face. He blinked a few times. _Did she just….?_ She must have mistaken the look on his face for something else for she crawled off of him and sat on her feet, head down.

"Sorry." She whispered.

He stared at her. In his chest bloomed a strange warm feeling…..quite odd considering his cold wraith blood.

He sat up and shifted on to his knees.

She started to cry.

"Hey, hey what's wrong?" He put his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm sorry! I just-I didn't mean-well-I sort of did… but I-" She looked up. "Sorry." She whispered again.

He smiled. "If it makes a difference," he whispered, brushing a strand of hair from her face, "I rather enjoyed it."

She stared at him, astonished. On an impulse he leaned forward…..and this time, _he _kissed _her_.

SHI_**ZAM**!_Oh burn! There it is! THE kiss! MWHAHAHA! Sorry…..got a little excited….I'll start writing now…..


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter title is long compared to the short chapter, I know, but it's song lyrics, which I may continue for other chapters since they usually fit the content. I am sore…..all over. Painting the house sucks. Having a cold sucks. Moving when all of your muscles are sore sucks. Getting paint all over the keyboard kinda sucks too….but at least it isn't painful….unless dad sees it. Oh well. I'm sooooooo sick….whines then coughs

Chaptah 6 – I don't think you trust…in…my…..self righteous suicide…I…cry…when angels deserve to die….

"That cloud sort of looks like a frying pan," Vicky pointed upwards towards a fluffy white cloud overhead. Seth and Vicky were lying on their backs, faces skyward. "See, the short handle there, and the biiiig circle is the pan."

"I think it looks a lot like you." Seth replied a touch of a grin pulling at his lips.

"Are we looking at the same cloud here?" Vicky asked.

"Yes. I am sure of it. See, there's your short little body and the large circle shape is your big fat head." Seth replied as-a-matter-of-factly.

Vicky gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. "Don't make me come over there."

"Please do." Seth grinned.

Vicky narrowed her eyes deciding if it was a play for reverse psychology.

Seth chuckled. In mid chuckle he suddenly gasped. He curled up, clutching at his stomach.

Vicky sat up "Seth?" She said, voice rising to a pitch of hysteria.

He gasped again, and uncurled, breathing heavily.

"Dammit…." He moaned,

"Seth?" Vicky's voice was barely audible now.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this…." He said, wincing as he sat up. "Not so soon anyway."

"What's-you don't mean?"

"I- At first I thought it was just the regular sort of hunger…I guess not." He buried his face in his hands "_Dammit!"_

Vicky could barely hear anything through the roaring in her ears. _No…it can't be. It hasn't even been a week yet! He said he had two weeks!_

When he stood up, she immediately followed suit. He was shaking. A thousand questions swam through her head. She didn't know what to ask first. She reached in to the chaos and picked one out.

"You're leaving aren't you?" It was a statement, not a question.

He looked at her. "I cannot stay. I will not place you in danger."

"I trust you."

"Really? Do you?" He looked at her seriously. "I certainly don't I do not have to feed today or the next. We still have tomorrow. But what happens when I start starving?"

"We could…um. Maybe you could feed on people who are going to die anyway. Like the old or sick"

He shook his head. "That will do little to satisfy the Hunger. It requires the young, and the strong."

"What about criminals?"

"Victoria, stop!" Seth shouted at her. "Just stop."

There was a pause.

"Will you…visit me?" She asked, throat tightening. _How many times am I going to cry this week?_

He looked at her incredulously, trying to read her face.

"I will not be able to visit you. Not where I am going."

Vicky tried to put on a brave smile. "It's not like they aren't going to give you time off. You're a guardian, right? You just assist the keeper and watch over the sleeping wraith. How time consuming can that be?"

"I don't think you quite understand, Victoria. I am not going back to a hive, even if they wanted me back."

"Then, wherever you are going I am coming with you." She maintained.

"_DON"T YOU GET IT?!" _He screamed suddenly. "I am not going anywhere you can follow me!"

"Why not?"

"Are you so in denial that you cannot see?" he cried frustrated. "I will not, _cannot_ take the life of any sentient being. It is wrong."

He waited for her to understand. She remained clueless. He decided to put it bluntly.

"I am going to _die_ Victoria. I am going to starve, or kill myself. Either way, I am going to die." He said repeated quietly.

It seemed as if everything stopped in time. There was no wind rustling the leaves. There were no singing birds.

"_What?!?" _Vicky said finally. She shook her head and tears flowed down her cheeks. "You _can't!_ I won't _let _you!"

"I can, and you will."

"_NO!_ There's nothing more important than the life of an individual! Its worth can't be measured!"

"It is equal to or less than the life of another!" he argued "If my life is ended, it will save the lives of many others. So many people would have to die to sustain my one life. A person every three days, at least. A _ person_ Victoria. For every three days that I may live, another must sacrifice their lifetime. Hundreds-nay thousands-of days. For three. Three short days."

"You can't help being the way you were born!" Vicky argued, but she knew she had lost. "_Please...…I want you to live too" _She began to cry anew.

His angry face softened. "Oh Vicky," He walked over to her and lifter her face in his hands. "I _have_ lived. I have lived seventeen long years. That is long enough for me." He held her against him and she wrapped her arms around him, crying in his shoulder.

"The days I have spent with you, long make up for the days I will never see."

Vicky continued to sob in his arms. She held on to this moment though. She savored every second of just being held. Of hearing his heart beat through his leather clothing. If she had not been so depressed, she would have laughed. He was a cold blooded wraith, but she could still feel the warmth of his heart.

_We still have tomorrow………_

A few days later….

Vana whistled happily in the back kitchen. Vicky had finally fixed the damned dishwasher. She put a slice of dish soap in the filter and flicked the door closed with her hip. She put away the soap and closed the cupboard door. When she did, she became aware of Vicky standing at the back entrance to the kitchen

"Oh! Hey Vicky!" She chirped "I didn't see you standing-Vicky, what's the matter?"

Vicky had dropped her bag to the floor. Tears glistened in her eyes, and dribbled unchecked down her cheeks.

"He's…." She sank to the ground sobbing. Vana hurried over to her. She sat on the ground in front of her and brought Vicky's head to her shoulder. She held her friend, stroking her soothingly.

"Shhh…tell me what happened."

"He's …..gone." Vicky whispered.

"You mean….Seth?"

"Yes…."Vicky said before breaking out with more sobs.

"Hey, hey. I'll help you look for him."

"Don't-bother" Vicky said haltingly between those big gasps of air you get when you cry really hard. "We-w-wont f-find h-him"

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Yes, that's right! Chapter freaking seven! You honestly thought he was dead, didn't you?

Didn't you? Oh I am the MASTER! You CRIED didn't u? Well some of you did. I know it. If you cried when Steve died…like I did… you cried. But he's not dead

! That's right! You heard me! Oh I wanted you guys to wallow in misery! Considering I am…man I hate having a cold and flu at the same time. I love it when I cry and freak out because I think someone's dead but THEY"RE NOT!

Ahem…anyways….

Oh by the way, Seth is not, I repeat NOT pronounced Set, like the Goa'uld Seth. It is pronounced 'Seth' as in 'death' with the 'th'….thought I'd clarify that.

* * *

**Chapter 7- _There can be miracles…..when you believe._**

What happened to Seth . . .

"Hookay, then." Colonel Sheppard (YAY SHEPPARD!) said as the event horizon of the Stargate disintegrated. "The village would be which way?" he turned to Teyla Emmagen.

"It is more of a city and it is this way." Teyla indicated north with a sweep of her arm.

"Let's move out then." Colonel Sheppard led the way.

"What's so interesting about this planet?" Rodney Mckay asked. "I was helping Radek understand one of my brilliant ideas and I unfortunately missed the briefing."

"The Sudarens are very advanced considering the iron hand of the wraith." Teyla explained.

"Yes, I'm sure." Rodney commented not very convinced.

"_And_ this planet likely hasn't been culled yet." Colonel Sheppard added.

"Hmm?" Rodney replied, 'What makes you say that?"

"It's a backwater planet." Ronon explained "It's a little too out of the way for the wraith to bother much."

"Oh that is just great," Rodney fumed. "Well if they haven't gotten it now they will soon won't they? There's just a little too much wraith and a little too few humans for them to leave it for seconds."

"Relax, Rodney," Colonel Sheppard said

"I will not relax!" Rodney cried indignantly, "They could be here any second! They could be here now!"

"Rodney, if there were wraith culling right now, Teyla would've detected them," Colonel Sheppard reassured. "Right?"

With no reply from Teyla, Colonel Sheppard repeated himself:

"Right, Teyla?"

He looked over to see Teyla, her brow was furrowed in concentration.

"Teyla?"

"There is a wraith nearby."

"I was right?" Rodney blinked.

"How many?" Ronon asked getting out his pistol.

"Just one." Teyla answered breaking her own concentration.

"Alright," Colonel Sheppard readied his gun, "Lets take this one alive, Dr. Becket could probably use another test subject for his retrovirus."

"And that worked so well before," Rodney muttered sarcastically, remembering the incident where they gassed a hive ship. He fell silent when Teyla motioned.

They crept through the trees, led by Teyla, until they came to a beach. The team crouched behind a few rocks for cover as they looked for the wraith.

"There," Teyla whispered.

A lone male wraith crouched not thirty feet away. One arm rested on his knee, the other hung down while the waves lapped at his fingers. He made a sound not unlike a sigh and stood.

"Don't move," Colonel Sheppard had advanced right up to the wraith's back. The rest of the team, minus Ronon, who thought it would be smarter to have one member hidden, took positions around the wraith.

"Turn slowly," Colonel Sheppard ordered.

The wraith turned to Colonel Sheppard.

"Drop your weapon...er...weapons," Colonel Sheppard corrected, eyeing the pistol hanging from his right hip along with a stunner on his back which crossed over what looked like a sort of medieval sword.

The wraith slowly and deliberately took out his pistol and dropped it. He unslung his stunner and blade and dropped them too.

"Rodney," john started.

"What?"

"Pick them up."

"What are you crazy?" Rodney cried. "I'm not getting that close to-"

The wraith slowly backed away from the weapons.

"_Now_ grab them Mckay," Colonel Sheppard ordered.

Rodney scuttled quickly over to the weapons and back, as fast as possible.

"What's a lone wraith doing out here?" Ronon asked.

"I live here." The wraith said quietly.

"You're a talkative one." Said Colonel Sheppard honestly. "Compared to most wraith anyway. Rodney, pass me the stunner."

"You…aren't going to kill me?" the wraith tilted his head curiously.

"No," Teyla said, sensing something different about this wraith.

"At least not yet," Ronon and Colonel Sheppard said simultaneously.

"It matters little." The wraith shook his head. "I will die soon anyway."

"That's nice." Colonel Sheppard lifted the stunner and shot the wraith twice in the chest. The wraith collapsed. "Goodnight."

-------------------------------------------------------

"Dr. Weir, there's an off world transmission for you. It's Colonel Sheppard, ma'am." Major Sines said via headset radio.

"I'll be right there," Dr. Weir replied. She made her way to the control room.

"I'm here John," Dr. Weir said through the microphone. "You aren't due back for several hours. What's going on?"

"We've captured a live wraith for Carson," Colonel Sheppard replied through his radio. "We'd like permission to bring him through."

"Granted," Weir said.

The team stepped through the gate a few minutes later. Ronon was dragging an unconscious wraith, and none too gently either.

"Welcome back," Dr. Weir greeted the team. "Carson's busy at the moment with an appendix removal, so we'll put it in a holding cell"

Ronon handed off the wraith to two Privates, who were having a harder time dragging the wraith than the muscular ex-Runner.

"Watch it, he keeps waking up," Ronon warned, handing a third soldier a stunner.

"Meanwhile I suggest you get to the infirmary and then meet me for a debriefing."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seth regained consciousness in a dark cell, lit only with the glow of a pulsing blue shield.

He attempted to rise, and failed. The Hunger made it impossible.

A door opened into the room and the messy haired male human from earlier stepped through. Seth stuck with kneeling, holding his aching stomach. It felt like he was on fire.

Worse than the fire in the crash, so many years ago.

The human was eating some sort of sandwich.

"Hungry?" He asked though a mouthful of food.

"I am….starving.." Seth found his speech even more halting than usual. He vaguely wondered how humans managed to speak so fluidly.

"I would offer you some," the man said, "But I'm not sure it would help, would it?"

"It…is…impolite," Seth began, starting to grin, "To speak….with your mouth full."

Seth chuckled a little.

The man frowned. "My name's John Sheppard. You got a name? I ask because most of you wraith-"

"Seth."

"What?"

"Seth," Seth repeated breathing heavily "My name…is Seth…John….Sheppard."

"Now, why are you telling me that?"

"You….asked…" Seth said raising an eyebrow and smirking.

"Yeah, but most wraith won't say."

"Most wraith….do not….have…..names." Seth grimaced as a pang of hunger sliced through him.

"Why do you have a name?"

"A ….close…friend…."

"Why were you on that planet?" John Sheppard asked.

"I told you….I live there."

"How long have you 'lived' there?"

"Nearly two years."

"Hard to believe the people there haven't hunted you down yet."

_That's what friends are for_, thought Seth.

"They…. were not aware…..of my presence."

"They didn't notice when people started going missing, or when fed on bodies started showing up?" John asked skeptically.

"I…have not….fed…on anyone before…." Seth began. "I have…only now…reached adulthood."

John Sheppard's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Then he appeared to hear something from the device on his ear.

"Roger that Carson," he replied. He then lifted a stunner Seth didn't notice he had before.

"This could tickle." John opened deactivated the shield and shot Set, but not before he had the last laugh.

"You have no idea."

* * *

Seth awoke in a sterile smelling room strapped securely to a white bed. He was wearing strange white clothing. He decided not to think about where his own went or how the new clothing got there.

"Oh, yer awake then lad," A pleasant voice said with an accent that made Seth smile.

"Apparently," Seth replied. He looked around. The room had more white beds, similar to the one in which he was restrained, in a long row. Some were curtained off. By the look of some of the equipment and the sterility of the space, he supposed it was a medical facility of some sort.

"If you relax, this'll hurt less." Said the man, whom Seth supposed was the doctor. He held up a needle. Seth's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What is….that?" He asked.

"Oh, they didn't tell you?" The Doctor asked, slightly surprised.

Seth fidgeted, the Hunger making itself known once again.

"I am certain….they did not….want me to know…" Seth said. He decided he was going to speak in shorter sentences. It was too painful to speak.

"It won't matter," A new voice was added to the conversation. It was John Sheppard.

"After he gives you enough of that, you won't remember anything.

Seth waited for his question to be answered.

"It's a retrovirus," The doctor explained. "It suppresses the wraith parts of your DNA and allows the more human parts to surface."

Seth ran that bit of information through his head a few times, before the enormity of what the human doctor was saying hit him.

"That….would…would…" He stuttered.

"Make you a human." A human female entered the room. She had wavy brown hair. The diversity in humans fascinated Seth. Wraith hair was strictly white. Unless you are a female, which he wasn't…obviously.

He comment suddenly filtered.

"What?" He demanded. He could be human….he could….

"Does this..mean...i ..would..not have..to..feed?" Seth was getting excited, which was using a lot of energy. Precious energy his starving body did not have. He convulsed and collapsed into a hibernation-like unconsciousness.

* * *

"What happened?" Colonal Sheppard asked Carson

The wraith's heart was still going, but the beats per second were dropping

"I think he's gone into emergency hibernation or something." Carson said watching the heart monitor level off. "By the looks of it, he's gone without a feeding for four days. That's a record. By a long shot." Carson readied the retrovirus shot.

"We'd better get this in him sooner than later or we're going to lose him."

"Last chance to pull out….." Sheppard warned Dr. Weir. "We all know how Michael turned out…."

"Well this time we won't let him get out of out sight will we?" Dr. Weir said only semi-confidently.

Seth's arm flinched, even in unconsciousness, when the needle pierced his arm. A bit of greenish blood swirled in the needle as the retrovirus was injected.


	8. Chapter 8

A note from the author: Dates are inaccurate as are times. As much as I love Atlantis, I'm too lazy to get off my butt and figure out exact times of when the Atlantis expedition did what so yeah.

ignore the lyrics if you want to but I thought the song matched the story and I couldn't just use two lines, the whole song is good GO BILLY JOEL!

Chapter 8**- Don't go changing, to try and please me,  
**You never let me down before,  
Don't imagine, you're too familiar,  
And I don't see you anymore.

I would not leave you, in times of trouble,  
We never could have come this far,  
I took the good times, I'll take the bad times,  
I'll take you just the way you are.

Don't go trying, some new fashion,  
Don't change the colour of your hair,  
You always have my, unspoken passion,  
Although I might not seem to care.

I don't want clever, conversation,  
I never want to work that hard,  
I just want someone, that I can talk to,  
I want you just the way you are.

I need to know that you will always be  
The same old someone that I knew,  
What will it take till you believe in me,  
The way that I believe in you?

I said I love you, and that's forever,  
And this I promise from the heart,  
I couldn't love you, any better,  
I love you just the way you are.

I don't want clever, conversation,  
I never want to work that hard,  
I just want someone, that I can talk to,  
I want you just the way you are.

* * *

Rodney found himself on the planet, that could be oh so close to a culling, once again and he let everyone I the immediate vicinity know how he felt…as usual. 

"Rodney," John Sheppard ground his teeth. "Shut up."

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I would."

"Well maybe you get your wish, when I am eternally silenced at the hands of a WRAITH."

"I could eternally silence you right now," Ronon said absently twirling his pistol on his thumb.

"You wouldn't."

"I wouldn't put it past him…or any of us right now for that matter," Sheppard said under his breath.

When the team entered town they stopped, scanning their surroundings. The town looked Star Wars-ish, in the fact that there seemed to be a mix of highly advanced technology and not so advanced lifestyles. The people wore a mix of 19 or 18th century clothing, yet some carried pistols that likely didn't fire bullets, like Ronon's. There were low-flying aircraft and hovercraft that served as cars, and at the same time, people on horseback.

"This is weird," Sheppard commented. "What's with the 18th to 22nd century generation gap?"

"Perhaps the people use the technology of the Ancestors?" Teyla hypothesised.

"I don't think so," Rodney hmmed. "None of this technology resembles ancient design.

"Okay, what do we do know?" Col. Sheppard asked," Ask the first random person we come across to take us to their leader?"

Ronon, walked up to a man who was carving a dining table right outside his shop.

"I didn't mean that literally." Col. Sheppard said.

As the team waited, the man gestured to Ronon, who nodded and made his way back to the group.

"Follow me," Ronon said. He led them through the streets and a few people stared, but for the most part they travelled unnoticed. They came to a stop at a fancy building with white colonnade, cathedral-like doorjambs, a tympanum and large double oak doors.

Sheppard whistled.

"That's something,"

* * *

"So, they do want to set up a meeting to discuss an alliance and trade?" Dr. Weir debriefed Colonel Sheppard. 

"Yep." John replied. "Oh, and the wraith's story checks out. Nobody has had any trouble with any wraith."

"Elizabeth?" Carson radioed.

"Go ahead Carson,"

"the patient is awake."

"I'll be right there. Colonel, the rest of the expedition has been briefed, ask Dr Zelenka for the details." With that, Elizabeth Weir left the briefing room and made her way to the infirmary. When she stepped in, the now human wraith was sitting up.

"How are you feeling Simon?" Elizabeth asked. They had decided to name him Simon. They considered using his real name, but that might trigger his memory, which now, should be long gone, along with anything that linked him to his wraith ancestry.. Everything, except for his hair, that is. It was still titanium white. It remained it's usual length, however for they decided to tell him he was a civilian. He would probably get suspicious if they told him he was an officer and then didn't let him go on missions.

"I …" He- Simon started. Then his stomach let out an audible growl. The hunger he felt as a wraith must have translated into his human form.

"You must be starving," Carson said, and almost as if on cue, Teyla showed up, bringing a tray of cafeteria food. She put on her best face.

"I see you're awake, do you remember anything about what happened to you?" the question was more of a line in a well rehearsed script than sincere curiosity. She definitely didn't expect the answer he gave.

"You gave me a…'retrovirus'" Simon answered quietly, shyly not meeting her eyes. There was a clatter as Teyla dropped the tray. She looked sharply at Carson Becket who stared open mouthed at the human wraith.

"You….remember everything?"

"Was it your intention that I forget?" the human wraith asked with his whispery voice, tilting his head. He looked forlornly to the spilled food. "That was a terrible waste."

Dr. Weir paged some armed soldiers which almost instantly ran into the room, along with John Sheppard. They pointed their weapons at the human wraith.

"What's going on Elizabeth?" He asked Dr. Weir.

"He remembers…"

"I thought memory loss was a side effect Carson!"

"It is," Carson replied.

"The why does he remember?!?!" John demanded.

"Elizabeth," Carson started, "That genetic anomaly I told you about before might have something to do with it."

"Genetic anomaly?" Almost everyone in the room, including the human wraith echoed.

* * *

Seth found himself again, in a cell. At least he had food. They had given him some sort of meat, that tasted really good, some sort of white mashed root stuff with butter, that also tasted really good and some sort of yellow grain, which also also tasted really good. Seth wondered whether it was the hunger that made everything taste really good or whether it was his now human tongue. He shrugged, not really caring and began devouring the food, slowly discovering how to properly work a fork and spoon. 

Shortly after he finished, the human female called Elizabeth entered with the one called John and the one who had brought him food, and then dropped it. She had orange-ish brown wavy hair He rose out of his cross-legged position, and stood politely head tilting to the side slightly.

"Hello," she said.

"Hello," he replied.

"My name is Teyla Emmagen," She said to him almost gently.

"I am Seth," Seth said.

"This is Dr. Elizabeth Weir, and-"

"John Sheppard." Seth interrupted.

"Yes," Teyla said. "We have discovered that you have an anomaly in your genes. You are genetically closer to humans than other wraith are."

Seth's brows shot up in surprise. "Am I…_was_ I…half human?" he frowned tilting his head in question.

"No."

There was an awkward silence.

"We would like to ask you a few questions." Teyla said

Seth nodded.

Teyla turned to John.

"What are the locations of the hive ships?"

"I don't know"

"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

"I do not know. I was never privy to such information due to my young age. I also have not spoken to any wraith for two years. However, I do know what planet my hive ship was on. It is likely still there. The wraith will not waken for another half century."

The humans looked at each other with a look he could not identify.

"Um….about that," John Sheppard started. "We sort of woke them up."

Seth's eyes widened. "But it is too early! There aren't enough humans yet…when did this happen?"

"We were on a planet two years ago" Teyla said "While we tried to rescue some of our people, we killed the Keeper."

"Effectively awakening the rest of the Hive." Seth nodded. "Which hive was it?"

Teyla told him the planet, which he instantly recognized. "That is where my hive slept. You must have gone there right after I left...I wondered why I wasn't pursued". He reeled with this information. Vicky…she would not be safe! The wraith could cull the planet any time now, she was no longer safe! And he wasn't there to protect her. A look of horror crossed his face.

"Please, I will tell you everything I can. Anything! But I must ask a favour," Seth begged.

"You're not in any position to demand favours." Sheppard sneered.

"It is not for me," Seth rushed to explain. "My friends….they are human. If the wraith-"

He paused running his human hand through his hair.

"I find it hard to believe a wraith could find human friends," Sheppard said blandly.

"Please," Seth pleaded, "I can't let them die."

"We will see what we can do," Teyla said, shooting a glare at Sheppard. Seth cast her a grateful smile.

"thank you,"

* * *

Rodney thought he was going to blow from the stress. Once again, he found himself on the planet, again. The team were walking towards the town/city/village/whatever once again. But this time they were following specific instructions. 

"Why should we trust this wraith?" Ronon grumbled "We should have just shot it when we found out it still remembered what it was."

"it does not hurt to be sure, Ronon," Teyla said. "if he is what he says he could make a valuable ally."

"I'd never want to be an ally with any wraith…ever. I don't care what he says." Ronon snarled.

Teyla ignored the comment. "Now that he is human he is our responsibility. We did this to him, against his will. We cannot just shoot him."

"About that," John wondered aloud. "He wasn't very ticked when he woke up as a human."

"I have always sensed something different about him," Teyla replied. "Perhaps it comes from making friends with humans"

Ronon snorted.

They came to a tall two storey building. A sign creaked in the wind. They looked at eachother.

"Well, if its an Inn, let's just walk in shall we?" John suggested.

They opened the door and stepped in. Several people turned to look, several stared as well. The group sat at a table. Not long after an attractive wavy haired brunette walked up to them.

"Can I get ye a drink gentlemen?" She smiled pleasantly.

The girl fit one of the descriptions the wraith had given them.

"Actually," Teyla said "We would like to speak to someone in particular. You are Vana?"

"Yup. That's me"

"We're looking for another girl as well. Victoria?"

Vana's eyes narrowed. "Why? And where'd you get our names?"

"From someone claiming to be an old friend," Ronon said gruffly.

"Arktos didn't send you did 'e?" Vana asked crossly, picking up empty plates from another table "Because if he did-"

"No," Teyla said. "She looked around to see if anyone was listening. "Someone who calls himself Seth."

Vana spun nearly losing her grip on the pile of plates. "Say _what_?"


	9. Chapter 9

Seth chewed his lip and shifted anxiously. He stood in the Gate Room, between two human soldiers. Two others near the gate had their guns trained on him, lest he tried to make a run for it or something. He fidgeted. How would she react to him? Seeing him like this….he hoped he was attractive to her. Then again, anything was more attractive than what he had been before. He couldn't wait to see her.

The gate started activating. His heart skipped and he jumped. The gate seemed to take forever, his heel tapped impatiently.

The event horizon expanded rapidly with a WHOOSH and then stabilized.

"Colonel Sheppard's IDC code," a human said through a microphone which made his voice sound metallic. Primitive technology.

The order was given and the iris was opened.

Seth had a feeling like someone had released the fluttery bug humans call butterflies in his stomach.

A SHLOOP sound was made as people exited the wormhole through the event horizon. First came the one called Rodney, then Teyla, then Ronon. After them came the person he was waiting for, Vicky.

She exited the Stargate, looking around in amazement. She had what looked like all of her belongings slung over her shoulder. And behind her, came her mechanics stuff, along with the two darts they had been working on together. She was moving in without even scoping it out. He was glad but couldn't help but wonder why.

She looked down and their eyes met. Hers widened and she stared.

"Holy crap," She dropped her stuff unceremoniously on the floor.

-------------------------------

"That's a new look," Vana stated, staring along with Vicky.

Vicky looked him up and down. His beautiful white hair remained its usual length. He still had the tattoo they shared. His now human face was sharp and angular with snowy lashes and brows. He was that tall, thin and sensitive attractive, verses the buff, strong and manly attractive that Arktos was. His eyes remained their unusual piercing blue, but now, in field of them, perched on the bridge of his nose, was a pair of spectacles.

She snapped out of her reverie and marched up to him with a furious expression on her face. Stopping an inch from him she narrowed her eyes up at him.

"You JERK! I thought you were dead!" She screeched. He stepped back confused. Then he closed his eyes against the storm.

"I WAS SO UPSET I BALLED MY FREAKING EYES OUT!" She turned on her heel and went to go get her stuff. He winced.

The team glanced their eyes in his direction. He acknowledged their questioning looks.

"Wait for it." He said simply. Vicky stopped. She inhaled deeply and sighed, her shoulders bobbing up then down. She turned around and tackled him with a hug.

"I missed you." She whispered, tears glistening in her eyes. She stepped away. She blinked so no-one would notice and then resumed a frowning expression. "Don't let it happen again, Stupid." she growled loudly.

Her mood swung once again to bewilderment. "What happened to your eyes?"

Dr. Weir walked into the briefing room along with Colonel Sheppard's team, Dr. Zelenka and Dr. Becket, to find Seth and Vicky having a thumb war, with Vana refereeing.

"Not so easy any more is it?" Vicky gloated, "Yer little fingers ain't so strong and pointy. I win easy."

Elizabeth coughed for attention.

"Don't count your hatchlings until they've actually hatched," Seth growled. "Ha. I win."

"You cheated." Vicky accused

"I won fair and square"

"Bull"

"He won fair and square, Vicky," Vana smiled.

"Yer all conspiring against me I know it." Vicky sulked.

Elizabeth cleared her throat loudly.

"Whassa matter? Got a cold?" Vicky asked. Elizabeth quirked an eyebrow and sat down at her place.

"No I was trying to get your attention."

"Oh. Why didn't you just say so?"

Elizabeth resisted rolling her eyes.

"Down to business if you please." She said folding her hands and leaning forward.

"Seth….has so willingly offered up his knowledge in return for our trust. However, it is not so easy for us to offer trust to a wraith, however human he may be now."

Seth nodded in understanding.

"So we'd ask you to be patient with us. We'll allow you certain range f the city, with armed escorts."

"ok." Vicky agreed quickly. "is there anything we could do for you, I mean, you know, so we can be trusted?"

Dr. Zelenka partially raised his hand. "Actually, yes. We'd like it if you could tell us more about wraith technology, as well as the technology of your planet." He aimed the question at Vana and Vicky.

"Hey, don't look at me, I'm a cook, not a mechanic." Vana said putting her hands up in protest.

"Sure, whatever. I'll show you around the darts." Vicky replied, ignoring Vana.

"That's wonderful." Zelenka clapped his hands together.

"Your accent is so cute." Vana said to Zelenka.

Zelenka blushed. "Um, well." He mumbled.

A watch on Seth's left arm bleeped.

Vicky's eyebrow quirked. "What's that?"

"Ah, that would be his alarm. Its time for a shot." Dr. Becket said getting up. "If you'll come with me, I'll show you how to administer the doses."

"Does everyone have a cute accent around here?" Vana wondered aloud.

"What, is it like a pill?" Vicky asked.

"It is a needle." Seth said.

Vicky's eye twitched and she shuddered.

"I hate needles."

"And over here we have the dialling device for the Stargate" Vicky pointed out the various controls and parts of the dart for Rodney.

"Um, yes, well," Rodney pointed at an jagged hole in the control panel. "What used to be there?"

"The transmitter. The first thing we did to the darts was remove the transmitter and throw it away, so the wraith couldn't track us." Vicky explained "We tied it to a log and chucked it down a river. It'll be far away from our old home by now and as long as it's moving, the wraith won't get suspicious. That is, if they ever got in range. Apparently our planet's too far away to bother with, even with a Stargate."

"Yes, we um gathered that," Rodney said slightly patronizingly. "just a question, how did you get to be…friends with a wraith?"

"He crashed on my home-world when we were both ten. You know how kids are, we didn't really realize the danger with a friendship of that sort. Or if we did, we ignored it. Couple weeks later the wraith attacked and me, Seth and the people of my village were taken.

"Because of my age, and friendship with Seth, the wraith didn't kill me. They marked us both with a tattoo, mine says worshipper basically and his says keeper of the worshipper. I guess they planned on raising us together or something but they never got the chance.

"Seth helped me escape and sent me to a safe planet where I could grow up among my own people. I grew up there with Vana until two years ago when Seth arrived. He'd left his hive for whatever reason and we picked up our friendship where we left off. Then he reached adulthood and you know the rest."

Vicky took a deep breath. The story turned out longer than she intended.

"Well, thank you, I don't think we'll be needing your help anymore but if we do we'll give you a call."

Vicky shrugged and turned to the security unit she'd been assigned. "All right boys, let's check out our quarters shall we?"

----------Im sorry its short and took awhile. I have ze chicken poxia, so ill be out awhile m'dears. A week from now and the rest of this chappie 'll be up-----------------


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

"Guys, I'm not three, I don't need a baby guardian." Vicky made a sweeping gesture with her hand at the two guards. They had followed her into Seth's new quarters, which, after much arguing with the people running the place, she had managed to acquire for him. "Go away."

The guards showed no intention of leaving the room. They just stared forward with a rather expressionless look.

"Hello-o? Anybody in there? Do I have to spell it out for you? G-O A-W-A-Y!" When the guards didn't respond Vicky got fairly pissed. Pursing her lips, clenching her jaw and glaring at them she poked her finger in the one's chest.

"Do you speak common? Or are you just totally mentally retar-" She started to say when Seth put his hand on her shoulder. A pair of semi-automatic weapons shot up into ready position, fully prepared to pump the human-wraith full of lead. Vicky glared openly at them.

"Victoria," Seth warned her quietly. She pointedly ignored him.

"Look, if he attacks me I'll scream and _**then**_ you can shoot him, 'kay?" She tried to compromise. "Otherwise I'll make you lives miserable."

The guards looked uneasily at Seth, who sort of had a humble look about him. It was as if, when he changed into a human, his whole posture changed. As a wraith, he was generally emotionless, unless he was angry, in which case he had that hunched shoulder look that most wraith had, with a predatorial gleam in his eyes. But as a human, he never seemed mad, just shy, as if hiding within an incredibly frail body of white glass. The frameless spectacles didn't help.

Victoria tapped her foot and the guards decided to step outside and guard from there. Smiling pleasantly she spun around to face Seth.

"Finally, we can talk in some degree of privacy." She stood there. They both stood there, waiting, for one of them to start a conversation.

There was a long awkward silence, in which Vicky fidgeted.

"So…"she started, "How about those spectacles? Have you always been nearsighted?"

Seth blinked behind his spectacles. They made him look more… shy?.. .klutzy?.. .naive?... .innocent?. ..geek-like? Vicky settled for geek-like. Not the unattractive geek-like however. It was more like the sight of him gave you the most incredible urge to go "Awwww….how sweet!". She didn't tell him that though. His pride, along with his wraith ego would be sorely wounded.

"Ah…no," he was considerably more soft spoken, she noted. He also spoke at a normal rate, well, a normal, _human_ rate. He had grown quite proficient orally as a wraith, but it paled in comparison to his speech now. "Dr. Becket believes that the same gene that gave me my…unusual blue eyes also reacted to the retrovirus to…" he indicated his now nearsighted eyes. "Fortunately, it was the gene that allowed my memory to remain intact."

Vicky smiled, finding that no response came to mind. Knowing another awkward silence was bound to emerge, she looked about his quarters, oh excuse me, his prison.

"It's not very……creative?" Vicky stated disdainfully. Everything looked so clean so organized, far too impersonal. Seth shrugged.

"Lets change that shall we?" Vicky suggested deviously, more out of need for something to do than for aesthetic purposes. Seth's eyes narrowed,

"What are you thinking?"

"We need to decorate."

"With what?" Seth asked dryly. "Invisible paint?"

"Har, har, you're a laugh riot." Vicky retorted. She looked frantically around, peering in, over and under various objects on her quest for entertainment. She found nothing. Frustrated she tromped over to his bed and plopped face down on it. A muffled scream sounded could be heard.

"Seeeeeeth, there's nothing to dooooooo….." She whimpered.

She sat up, hair humorously amuss. "I mean, normally when we're bored we cause trouble, but its never serious trouble, and here there's nothing but serious trouble to be caused."

Seth understood what she meant. If they did one little thing out of line here, it would be all over for them. Or rather, for him.

"Go have fun without me." He said gently, sitting down beside her.

"No!' she interrupted. "We stick together. Share the burden and all that."

He quirked an eyebrow and chuckled.

"I only mean that you can relate to me what happened and we can have a good laugh about it. That way we can both have fun."

'It wont be the same," Vicky sighed.

"Besides," he continued, "the more _**you**_ get in trouble, the better _I_ look."

Vicky gave a mock glare and thwacked him over the head, as he laughed.

"All right all right, I'll go annoy people."

"By all means," Seth made an over exaggerated mock bow. Vicky liked it when he was in his goofy moods.

"Thank you kind sir,"

* * *

"Hey! Hey- sheepdog!"

Col. Sheppard ground his teeth and growled.

"It's Sheppard." He snapped. The blonde teenager, Victoria, caught up to him, and he regretted snapping at her at once. Her look was genuinely apologetic.

"Oh, sorry," She walked beside him for a bit looking at her feet. He had a fleeting thought that she might be attracted to him, as she was a very attractive teen, but recognized the egotistical thought for what it was and dismissed it.

"Was there something you needed?" he asked. She let out a great sigh and slouched.

"We're so boooooored. We need something to DO. Fix something, or…something. I'll clean the latrines out if I have to."

"Um….I'm pretty sure they don't need cleaning."

"Well, whatever!"

"I've been looking all over for you!" The other teen, Vana, came storming out of nowhere. "Do you have any idea how boring it is here?!?"

"Oh, I've got a feeling," Vicky muttered.

John, on his way to a sparring match with Teyla, decided to pass the buck. The instant he passed Zelenka he found his opportunity.

"Hey, Dr. Zelenka! How are you?"

Zelenka frowned at John suspiciously, "I'm…..fine..?"

"I was just telling these two about those anime episode DVDs you won in that chess game! They'd just love to watch them." John pushed the two girls at Zelenka and hurried away.

"But-"

"Sorry can't talk I'm late!"

The girls looked expectantly at Zelenka, with their best Bambi-eyes, batting their lashes.

He heaved a great sigh.

* * *

"What is…that?" Seth wrinkled his nose as he sniffed the greasy yellow…puff ball. it was small….puffy….and apparently edible.

"They call it popcorn. Kind of like puffed grain. Its really good. The yellow drippy stuff is melted butter." Vana said proudly. She had brought a huge bucket full of the stuff.

Seth popped it in his mouth. His eyes widened from the flavour.

"Mmmmm!" he reached for more and Vicky smacked his hand.

He withdrew it, pouting. He noticed it hurt a lot more than when she usually smacked him. Everything seemed to hurt more now that he was human. Not even the tiniest cut would heal. He sort of felt bad for her. Humans must have to be very brave.

"These first," She held up the DVD cases. Seth took one and opened it. He removed a disc and examined it.

"It's like a primitive data storage device." He examined the DVD player Zelenka set up and put the disk in. Zelenka didn't explain much but he stuck around to give the basic idea of the remote control.

Seth pressed play.

* * *

Elizabeth and John were strolling down the hallway, enjoying their after-lunch break when they heard a commotion in one of the quarters.

"Isn't that the one with…Seth?" Elizabeth asked rhetorically.

John hurriedly swiped the door crystals, the guards nowhere in sight. When he entered the room he realized why. The soldiers were enthralled in an episode of _Fruits Basket_, while, a little further away the three resident teenagers were having a pillow fight. Vicky was holding a popcorn bucket over Seth's (presumably) head, while sitting on his stomach. Vana was happily swatting away at Vicky with a pillow while scooping up stray handfuls of popcorn and throwing them at her.

In the corner of the room lay a broken ceramic lamp, amongst the feathers and fluff of two demolished pillows, one down-filled, one regular.

"What's going on here?" John demanded, voice raised, although, clearly he could see exactly what was going on.

Vicky's tan face paled. She slowly took her hands off the bucket with a strained, and very fake, smile. Vana had frozen in mid swing, with an expression like she hoped she was invisible, or at least unnoticed. Seth slowly tipped the bucket up so he could see. A few kernels of popcorn escaped and tumbled down his hand-in-the-cookie-jar face.

"Hi…."Vicky said through her teeth. "We were, um,….um.."

* * *

About a minute and a half later, the three found themselves sitting, heads down, in Elizabeth's office. She was just finishing her lecture.

"I would hope you could find something more constructive to do." She said seriously.

"We just need something to do. I mean, I'm helping Dr. McKay with the Darts but Seth and Vana have nothing to do at all except stare at the walls." Vicky pleaded.

"Yeah, it'd be more fun if we could have jobs or something." Vana added.

"I'm sorry, but we just can't give you the trust required to let you have access to that much of the city." Elizabeth said gently.

"What about me?" Vana asked. 'can't I get a harmless job like cooking? I love cooking."

"And give you access to our food supply/ I'm sorry, but that's asking for trouble."

"It's because Seth can remember isn't it?" Vicky asked. "He can't gain your trust if you won't let him do anything. I mean, is it so hard to believe that a wraith could truly not want to be what he is? And want to save human lives?"

Elizabeth sighed. "You have to understand that if it were possible for a wraith like that to exist, it is also possible for a wraith to swallow its pride and dignity so it could become human and spy on us. I'm no medical expert but he could have been genetically manipulated for just that."

"But why would he admit to being able to remember?"

"To gain more trust? I don't pretend to understand the Wraith."

"But-"

"Victoria," Seth, quiet for the whole exchange shook his head back and forth. He used her name when he was serious. "Just let it go." He sounded calm, but she could hear the pain in his voice.

They were escorted back to their quarters. Vicky was silent the whole way.

"See you later guys.' Vana was escorted away.

Vicky spoke up when they had a degree of privacy.

"It's true though," she insisted quietly. 'How can you show them you can be trusted is they won't give you the chance?"

He put cupped her chin and cheek with his hand, tilting her downcast face upwards.

"I'll get a chance." He said quietly with a small smile. "We'll just have to wait for a miracle."

And that miracle couldn't have come soon enough.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Author's note:** Wow, if I hadn't been in such a rush to post chapter ten for you impatient nags I would have talked to all of you to say how much I adore you. Seriously, those reviews make me smile, and make this all worthwhile. Sorry it took so long, I'm adjusting to summer. If anyone reads my fanfic and doesn't review, curse you. I don't care if you say you hate it, I don't care if it's silly or non constructive, say something, anything. I'm sorry that was rude. But I am a review-aholic.

Anyway, I'm happy my story brings joy to those who read it. I'm perfectly happy with just playing the scenes through my head; I don't need to write them down. But I will, for you, and I will not leave you hanging for half a year like a certain fanfic with Steve in it, I won't mention any names. Anyway, on with the show.

**Chapter 11**

Vicky woke up one morning expecting it to be as boring as the last three. However she awoke to the sounds of shouting people and alarms. She grunted and rolled out of the bed. She sprinted over to the door only to discover it wouldn't open.

"Hey! What's going on?" She pounded on the door, but no one opened it. She ripped open an electrical panel and rewired it. The door opened. She stuck her head out of the door, the coast was clear. She sprinted down the hallway heading for Seth's quarters.

She skidded around a corner and slammed into the guy with the dreadlocks. They guy who hated Seth. The guy who consistently threatened to beat up poor defenceless Seth on a daily basis. She remembered his name was Ronon.

"H-hi. Fancy meeting you here," Vicky said with a big, fake, toothy, please-don't-kill-me-sir smile. He glared murderously at her. He didn't much like _her_ either. For obvious reasons.

"Bye now!" she attempted to run past him. He stopped her with a painful grip on her arm.

"You're supposed to be confined in your quarters!" he growled dangerously.

"Um, why?"

"Like you don't know," he snarled.

"No, really, I'm pretty sure I don't, so if you'll excuse me," Vicky slammed her forehead into his, effectively surprising and stunning him enough for her to escape his grasp.

"Run like hell, run like hell, run like hell" She whispered in each exhalation of breath as she high-tailed it out of there. She came to another corner and wisely checked around it before rashly running around it. It was a smart decision. A group of armed guards, a lot more than usual were stationed outside Seth's quarters, all looking very tense.

_What's going on?_ Vicky wondered. She needed to get top Seth. Well, actually she didn't, but she _felt_ she needed to. Suddenly she had an idea. Which is usually not a good thing, when it comes to Vicky.

She ran around the corner screaming. That got their attention.

"A wraith!!!" She shrieked. "That way!" She pointed behind her. A stupid ploy that should never have worked, yet, somehow, someway, it did. When the guards were out of sight she ran to the door. As she rewired it to open she couldn't quash the dread feeling that her plan should not have worked. The door unlocked and she opened it.

Seth was on the other side.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "What's going on?"

"I don't-" But by that time Ronon had caught up with the guards, who had realized they'd been duped, and they all decided to head around the corner. Quick as a flash Vicky closed the door, bent down and pretended to still be fiddling with the lock. She pretended to be surprised by their arrival.

"Damn!" She cursed as she quickly spun on her heels to escape. She called to Seth over her shoulder for effect. "I'll get you out of there, Seth! I promise!"

She ran like she'd never run before, in no particular direction, swerving around corners down hallways and pillars in big rooms, carefully memorizing the way back. Suddenly, as she swerved around a corner she really did run across…a wraith.

She let out an unearthly shriek. Hanging out with Seth for two years still had not erased the inbred fear of the wraith, passed down orally and genetically through the generations. Even without the instinctual fear, she would have screamed. She knew full well that just because Seth was a good wraith, it did not make any other wraith good. In fact, Seth was a very special case. There were no other wraith like him.

The wraith snarled, and then grinned hungrily.

Vicky turned around so fast, neck bones cracked. She ran down the hallway yelling her head off. Then a hallway flood-door started closing.

"NO!!!"" Vicky cried. As she ran the door inched downward.

20 feet….15 feet…10 feet…5 feet…Vicky made a last ditch dive for the door…and had to pull her fingers back as the door slammed shut in front of her, locking her in the hallway…alone with the wraith.

"No. no, NO!" She sobbed pounding on the door. She ran to rewire the panel. She ripped off the casing, looking up to check how close the wraith was. She gasped. Too close.

She leapt away from the panel and into a defensive fighting position, ready for the wraith. He came stalking down the hall, grinning evilly at her.

And then another door started closing…between them. The wraith frowned and picked up the pace. He roared in frustration when it became clear he was not going to make it. He pounded on the closed door, screaming at his lost prey.

Shaking, Vicky slid down the door. She held her head between her legs so she could compose herself before she mad another attempt at the lock. She realized that it would be foolish to try and open it. She didn't know how the systems of the city worked; she could end up unlocking the wrong door. And unlike in the event to free Seth, this time she could not afford to make a mistake.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Author's note: **its moving along…..there's so much more to do though! I haven't even introduced the plot yet….yes that's right, this is not the plot. You have not seen the plot yet, though there is one. This is still intro work. There's so many people they have to meet, and things that have to happen! It's killing me!

* * *

**Chapter 12**

"Elizabeth, I don't think you quite understand what I mean by the word "impossible"" Rodney insisted breathlessly. "Even with Zelenka I can't keep up with this virus! I hate to say this but I think we need to go to plan B."

"I thought you said the virus is preventing city EVAC and self destruct! THERE IS NO PLAN B RODNEY!" John shouted over the din of explosions, gunfire and alarms.

"The virus has locked all flood doors!" A scientist reported over the noise. "We've got teams trapped everywhere!"

"We are seriously screwed," Rodney said, fingers whizzing over keyboards.

"This is a wraith-made virus is it not?" Teyla asked.

"No, just because it's _in_ the wraith language, downloaded _by_ the wraith during a surprise attack _by_ the wraith, couldn't _possibly_ be the wraith!" Rodney shouted sarcastically.

Teyla chose to ignore him. "Then wouldn't it make sense that a wraith's assistance could help?"

"What, are you _nuts?"_ Rodney cried.

"We don't have any other choice do we?" Elizabeth said gravely.

"How will we get to him? The doors are sealed." Zelenka said.

"Not sealed, my friend" Rodney said. "Not for me."

* * *

"Okay, this is the last door in this hallway, and then we get to unlock…yeah." Rodney opened the control panel face and started on the wires.

"Just…about…there! Bingo! Open sesame!"

The door stayed closed.

"That's weird…that should have worked." Rodney puzzled.

"Even the great Rodney makes mistakes," John said sarcastically. "Try again."

Oh, but little did they know Rodney _did_ open a door, and Vicky was desperately wishing he hadn't.

* * *

Vicky had her back to the wall trembling. She had nothing to fight with. The hallway was filled with the wraith's sinister laughter.

_WhatdoIdo?WhatdoIdo?WhatdoIdo?_

Vicky turned to the panel randomly connecting any wires, not understanding how the wraith could've figured out the door controls so fast. The panel gave her an electrical shock, but the door opened enough for her to roll under.

She started running down the hallway when she was knocked aside by the pursuing wraith. She clicked into fighter mode, punching kicking biting and scratching, the intense need to survive pumping adrenalin through her veins. However feisty and experienced she happened to be though, she was merely a human, a weak, weapon-less human. He just seemed to shake off her punches like they were nothing. They didn't even send him back at all.

Her injury count was rising; she was no longer on the offensive, all her energy was put into keeping the wraith's deadly hand from her heart.

Finally the wraith managed to immobilize the infernal struggling of the human. He drooled in the anticipation of such a strong, resistant human life. He grinned into her fearful face and placed his hand over her rapidly beating heart.

* * *

Seth walked as silent as a ghost behind his Atlantean hosts as they led him to the Gate Room.

Their leader, Elizabeth turned to face him. She had to look up at the tall, adolescent, and recently, human.

"You wanted a chance to prove yourself, this is it," She said seriously.

Without even meaning to, Seth spouted a very cheesy catch line.

"What is the nature of the emergency?"

Rodney filled him in on all he knew about the virus. Seth nodded seriously.

"Let us begin," Seth turned to the wraith symbols running down the screens and began translating. The pace soon picked up, Seth started yelling rapid-fire orders on how to combat the virus as it started spreading exponentially. The scientists were sent scrambling. In the span of ten minutes Seth lost his patience and shoved a scientist out of the way, physically putting his computer skills at work.

Elizabeth waited tensely. She could feel a headache coming on with all the yelling in the room. Then suddenly, everyone stopped typing. Rodney looked up.

"It worked! I did it!" Rodney said breathlessly. Seth ignored him.

"You battle is far from over, from the sounds of it." Seth commented quietly, dampening the feeling of triumph.

Elizabeth snapped out of it. "Get the shield back up! Get the doors open and have more teams sent out after the wraith in the city.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

13 is an unlucky number!!! Uh oh!

_**Chapter 13**_

Ronon spun around the corner, running towards the scream he had heard. He shot, without stopping to aim, at a wraith that was feeding off of the blonde girl he had been chasing earlier. The wraith jolted to the side, dropping his aged victim. The wraith's feeding had strengthened him however, so he merely shook off the jolt and advanced on Ronon. Ronon shot in rapid succession as he ran still closer to the wraith. The wraith shook off the first three, stopped at the fourth and was brought to his knees by the fifth. Ronon finished him off with a shot set on stun.

Ronon turned to look at the girl. She had aged many years, and was suffering from a lot of broken bones. She lay in a growing pool of blood.

"Medical team to the north corridor," Ronon reported calmly. "And step on it."

---------------------------------------------------------

"You must allow me to see her! I have to- I have to…." His sentence was choked off by emotion. Even after all he had done for them, the Lanteans had paid him back by returning him to his quarters, and now, as he stood there, his best friend was dying. He needed to be there with her, to hold her hand, to- _to_ _do something to save her!_

Then it hit him. He _could_ save her. But he needed to get out of his quarters, and it was there that the problem lay. They seemed to give him some level of trust, he supposed, for the guards at the door had gone off to join the other teams hunting the wraith. For his plan to work, however, he needed to get to the wraith first.

He paced for a moment and then he remembered; the lock on his door was still disabled from Vicky's earlier tampering.

The device the humans called a 'watch' began beeping repeatedly. He smiled a smile that was reminiscent of his former self.

* * *

As he stalked the darkened halls of the Lower City, Seth wondered how long it would take for him to return to his former self. He had been taught to take his own doses of the retrovirus when the watch beeped. He had not taken his most recent dose, but he was still mostly human. He heat sensing slits had appeared and his eyes were catlike. He did not have his full strength back however. Fortunately he'd had the foresight to borrow some stunners from an Atlantean armoury.

He paused, he could sense a presence. Several. Certainly they sensed him as well. He was human to them still. Fortunately. Behind a pillar. Wait. Where? There. Shoot. Roll. Shoot. Duck. Find cover. There. Shoot. More? No. Hunger? Yes. Feed? Not yet. Wait.

Seth shook his head, as if to shake away the primitive thoughts of the Hunter. He needed clear thinking now. His instincts were coming back, but he was not capable of feeding at the moment. Not yet. He gathered the unconscious wraith together. He bound their hands with ingenious little plastic ties that the humans seemed to favour. Then he tied the ties together, and finally created a chain of ties to keep the wraith against a pillar and totally immobile. He reinforces every tie. He could not afford escape.

Hungry. Feed? Wait. Wait……

* * *

Dr. Beckett jumped at the sound of a startled yell. He poked his head out of the infirmary to see one of the few guards posted around it thrown well across the hallway. One that was actually conscious called for backup. The wraith who had thrown him aside ignored it, and advanced towards the place where the doctor stood. Beckett fumbled with the COM and backed into the infirmary, locking it.

The wraith merely smashed through the glass.

"I need backup in the infirmary!" he said in a panicked tone. He positioned himself between the wraith and his patient, to defend her, but he really didn't want to die.

"Out of the way, Dr. Beckett."

Beckett realised who it was, which he should have earlier, considering the wraith's Atlantean garb.

"I can't do that son," Beckett said.

"Just move, I intend to save her life." Seth assured the Doctor. Beckett reluctantly moved aside.

Seth let out a strangled gasp. By Victoria's aged appearance he wondered how she was still alive. He reached out his hand…

* * *

Vicky woke up slowly. Her eyes creaked open millimetre by millimetre. She was in the infirmary. She groaned and sat up.

"Good morning, Vicky," Seth sat by her bedside at her left.

"Oh, you're up then love, how do you feel?" the doctor hovered at her right.

She groaned again and fell back.

"You saved my life. Again." She said with a hoarse voice. Her throat felt scratchy.

"Now you owe me," Seth smiled. Not a trace of his wraith self was left. He was human again.

Vicky half snorted half coughed.

"It sounds like you've caught a wee bit of a cold there," Dr. Beckett said.

Seth sat up. "What does that mean?"

"It means I'm dying," Vicky muttered dramatically.

"WHAT?!"

"Ha..ha…loser,"Vicky coughed. "You're so gullible."

Seth glared at her, and then raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the doctor.

"It's nothing to worry about, son. She likely got it while her elderly immune system was down. It's just a small virus. We humans get it all the time."

………..

Author: I had nothing better to finish the chapter off with. I prefer introducing new crises in separate chapters I think. Besides, someone…cough cough won't mention any names is whining about cliff-hangers, my favourite writing tool. Lol. Anyhoo. I'll work on the next adventure. I actually have it in mind but it will take a little work to work it into the story. Sorry the chapter's so short. Tata.


	14. Chapter 14

_ The Runner contemplated his position as he sat, watching his trap with interest. He was probably the longest lived Runner in history. He'd been running for six or seven years at least. He was so skilled at slaying or eluding his tormentors that he wondered if it would be his age that killed him after all. Especially with the addition of his newfound partner._

_ They heard the rustling of the approaching wraith. Psychic phantoms darted around them, they were too experienced to pay them any heed. The wraith appeared, more than one. Many, many more than one. Amber eyes meet green, containing identical questions. Why so many._

_ So, they really mean to be rid of me this time? Jonathen thought. It's good to know I've become more than a minor irritation, I suppose they'd rather not train humans to be able to escape them. That is exactly what they have done to me. They mean to erase their mistake._

_ It would take more work than either of the men like or expected, but ultimately, it would be the wraith who were erased._

* * *

Chapter 14 – This is what together means.

* * *

Vicky awoke gasping. She's had the dream again. You'd think she wouldn't, considering she went to bed early, fell right asleep and hadn't even had those bean burritos for dinner. But no. She sat there shivering and wiping away tears of fear.

She laid back, but soon realised she would be quite awake for quite some time now. She sighed and threw off the covers.

* * *

Seth heard her before he saw her. He was awake, reading the unusual book the humans called "The Bible". Her bare feet made a soft slipping sound as she lifted them for each step, the skin of her soles sticking slightly to the cold floors.

At the swish of the door opening, he looked up. She stood there, coincidentally in the rays of the moonlight. She was shivering slightly. He would have attributed that to the fact that she was wearing a slip of a nightgown; it could not give her warmth as it could not cover much of her body. Did she not know what this immodesty did to him?

She was not cold, however, or at least that is not entirely why she was shivering. He spied the glistening of sweat on her arms; she was afraid. And the tracks of tears on her cheeks… She sniffled.

He immediately got up and went over to her.

"What's the matter?" he asked wrapping his arms around her to warm her up.

"It's nothing," She said. "Just a bad dream. I couldn't sleep after so…"

He leaned back and looked at her to gauge the truth of her words but she wouldn't meet his eyes. She was lying. Not about the dream part he guessed, but about it meaning nothing.

She was the first to break the ice.

"Hey, is that a stereo?" she broke the embrace and walked over to the large box shaped device.

"What music do you have?" She asked. He walked up behind her, putting his chin on her shoulder and hugging her waist.

"I have no idea." His people's idea of music was chanting or a sort of mantra humming. Human music was so exotic and abundant. so...interesting.

Vicky selected a shiny data disk and inspected the "stereo". She pushed a few random buttons. One opened the device.

"Eureka," She said semi-enthusiatically.

She placed the disk, shiny side down in the device and closed the lid.

She pressed another random button and music began to play. Marvellous piece of equipment, he thought.

Vicky sat on the bed and hugged her knees, her eyes unfocused, thoughts far away.

He sat beside her.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"No….yes…I don't-" She took a shuddering breath and put her head in her knees. "Just a dream...It was my mother…when we were on…when they…when she.."

_ When she died…_he finished the thought for her. He felt a great sadness build inside, sadness for her, and guilt for his people.

Vicky burst out crying. He lifted her onto his lap and wrapped himself around her. His timer went off, and he ignored it. He squeezed her tight, as if she could somehow integrate into him and fill the emptiness inside.

Vicky felt safe in his arms. She would feel so alone if it wasn't for him. She's never felt so in love with him than at this moment. As she sat there hiccupping her tears away, a thought occurred to her. They knew they loved each other, but what had they done about it?

What could they do about it? Nobody wanted to see them together, a sort of wraith and a human. But, then again, no-one knew anything about them really. They just figured they were messed in the head partners.

What did people do once they were in love? She surprised herself that she had never thought of that, she was so caught up in being with him. When people are in love, they get married don't they? She couldn't very well marry him, I mean what minister in his right mind would-

"I am so sorry." He broke into her thoughts. She squirmed in his lap and turned to face him. His eyes were closed, his face cast down with a curtain of hair obscuring it. But she could still make out the contours of his face, he was turning back into a wraith, he must not have taken his nightly dosage of the retrovirus. His brows were arched now, his skin a pale aqua, she could see the blue lines of his veins and the teardrop shaped slits on his cheeks.

He was so beautiful.

"Hey."

He looked up and she leaned forward and kissed him. It wasn't as short this time; she held on. Her tongue begged entry at his lips and they complied. She was mindful of his teeth. Her fingers stopped running through his hair. They trailed down his neck to the collar of his shirt. To the top button, which she undid. The second followed. She felt him start to break the kiss, but she took his face in her hands. He gave her a shove and she landed on her back. She started to get up but he held her shoulders down. He frowned and peered down at her quizzically.

_ What are you doing little human?_

In the silence that followed the following lyrics could be heard.

…_.we ain't gonna live forever  
Let me show you all the things that we could do  
You know you wanna be together  
And I wanna spend the night with you…_

An unspoken understanding passed between them.

She grasped the bottom of his shirt and drew it over his head…


	15. Chapter 15

"I want to be more of a help around here," Vicky informed Sheppard. "Vana's having a peachy-grand old time helping the cook, such a good time that I haven't seen her at all. Fixing things is nice. Being smarter than Rodney when it deals with wraith dart technology is nice too, but I am really bored. I need action!"

John kept walking

"Come on! My muscles are melting! Let me join a team1 I'm capable! I can kick ass!"

"People won't be comfortable with you on a team off-world. You've teamed yourself up with a wraith. You're practically on their side"

John felt the breath driven out of him as his shoulder was gripped painfully and he was thrown into a wall and pinned to it.

"Don't you dare say that!" Vicky virtually screamed in his face. "The wraith murdered my mother right in front of me! Just because I understand their point of view doesn't make me on their side of the war. Because that's what it is; war. They gotta live, but so do I. Between them and me, hell, you better bet its going to be me. Don't you dare make assumptions like that!"

She released him and stormed off.

"Hey Vicky-" Rodney started as she passed him.

"BITE ME!"

"Uhh…okay…"

* * *

"Next time you get in a bad mood, try not to pick a fight." Dr. Becket said as he dabbed at a cut over Vicky's left eye.

Vicky alternated between wincing and glaring at Ronon from across the infirmary. He stared impassively back with one eye. The other was swollen, and the blue colour complemented the dripping red cut on his lip.

"He's just lucky I didn't break his nose," Vicky muttered

"You're lucky he didn't break your arm," Carson looked up at her.

"I can take him. Stupid Sheppard. If he'd only let me on a team I wouldn't be going stir crazy. I can be trusted."

"You've got a weird way of showing it," Ronon commented

Vicky glared at Ronon and pushed the doctor away, saying the wounds would heal by themselves just fine.

* * *

Vicky leaned on the railing ad took in a deep breath of the salty sea air. She sighed and laid slumped her chin into her arms, staring at the waves.

"So I hear you want to join a team," Came the voice of Elizabeth Weir. And the sound of the ocean was just staring to relax her…

"Aye," Vicky said absently.

"I'm willing to give you a chance," Dr. Weir said, leaning on the railing beside her.

Vicky's ears and eyebrow perked up at that, and she straightened up to look at Elizabeth.

"_If_ you apologize to Ronon,"

Vicky groaned.

"And if you promise not to cause any trouble,' Dr. Weir finished.

"Oh I can promise not to cause trouble easy enough. Sure thing Dr. Weir, ma'am. I promise not to cause any trouble a-tall" Vicky said enthusiastically.

"Good," Dr. Weir said seriously. "Now apologize to Ronon."

"Yes ma'am," Vicky muttered reluctantly. She saluted half-heartedly and headed back inside.

* * *

"I'm sorry I picked a fight Roland-'

"His name is Ronon," Elizabeth corrected warningly.

"Right, Ronald. It was uncalled for and-

"Ronon," Elizabeth said tersely.

"Konan, got it. I'm sorry, I hope we can start over and be friends…or comrades….or acquaintances."

"Ro-nan."

"That's what I said; Noland."

"Vicky…" Elizabeth warned.

"Yeah yeah, his name is Ronon, whatever. I promise not to beat you up for no good reason."

"You mean not at all," Elizabeth corrected.

"Oh no, I mean what I said. If there's a good reason to beat him up I will."

"Vicky…"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to beat him up. It's just I've heard the weird things that go on around here so if he got possessed or something and was poised to destroy the city… I'd beat him up."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Continue."

"I promise not to strangle, maim, kill or otherwise incapacitate you, for no good reason-"

"If you're not going to take this seriously Vicky…" Elizabeth cautioned.

"-in other words I'll be civil." Vicky held out her hand, "Shake on it?"

Ronon fixed her with a dead look, then, without breaking eye contact, he shook her hand.

"Great!" Vicky smiled cheerily. "I'll see you later then, Reginald.'

She skipped off.

"It's RONON."

"Sure thing, Tomin."

* * *

"Ah, a breath of non-salty fresh air!" Vicky spread her arms wide and spun around.

"Watch where you're pointing that thing!" Sheppard ducked and cursed.

"What, this?" Vicky looked at her gun. "The safety's on."

She moved her thumb and Sheppard heard a click.

"Now it's off. Worried?" She skipped, in the literal sense of the word, down the path leading away from the gate.

* * *

Vicky savoured the smells of the town; wood smoke, damp earth and…bacon.

"Mmm, we're on a trading mission right?"

"Yes," replied Ronon

"Let's trade guns for bacon"

"That's not even remotely funny," Rodney snapped.

"But you're considering it, aren't you?"

Rodney tilted up his chin.

"Perhaps,"

"Stow it," Sheppard retorted. "You both ate before we left."

"So?" They chimed simultaneously.

Teyla returned to the group, which was situated at a street corner near a market.

"Something is wrong," Teyla said nervously. "I cannot find my contact and everyone here is…acting unusual."

"What do you mean, 'unusual'?" Sheppard asked.

"Sketchy. They keep looking at us sideways and they seem tense, like they are ready to run away," Vicky noted. "Actually, they are looking at Rick over here." She jabbed her thumb at Ronon.

"It's 'Ronon'." Ronon said in a bored tone.

"Ya huh," Vicky replied.

"Company," Ronon pointed to a group of armed, soldier-looking guys. The group stood defensively and watched the approaching men.

The men walked up and stopped, holding medieval-looking weapons nervously. A tall brutish man separated from the group and walked up to the team. He stopped in field of Ronon.

"You aren't welcome here Runner," He said threateningly. "You'd best drag your sorry hide out of here before I do it for you."

"He's not a Runner anymore, we got the tracker out of him," Sheppard stepped up. "What's this all about?"

"A village to the north of here harboured two runners. Now it's burned beyond recognition. The runners are still here and we've gotten word the wraith are searching and culling villages and towns one by one. There aren't many but we know we can't make it through so we're sending teams to take out and send the runners through the ring. What's it to you?"

There was a short silence. Vicky noticeably leaned over to Ronon. She cupped her hand in field of her mouth.

"I think we should help them," she said in a loud stage whisper.

The rest of the team gave her a look.

"What?" Vicky asked.

"We would be happy to help if you could help us in return," Teyla said.

"What?" Vicky repeated in the background.

"We can use all the help we can get, especially from an ex-runner. What do you need?"

"I am looking for a friend of mine, he was a trader named Railin."

"Railin Tirdai? He was trading in the first village to be destroyed. I'm sorry."

Teyla looked shocked for a moment but regained her composure before any other emotions could become evident.

"If we help you, we'd like to set up a trade for some supplies we're running low on." Sheppard said.

Teyla remembered her responsibility to the mission.

"Yes, perhaps this could be an act of good faith to put towards a business relationship with your people."

"Certainly. The sooner the threat has been eliminated the sooner we can get around to such matters."

"Then it's agreed," Ronon cut in. "We'll deal with your Runners"

"What's the plan?' Sheppard asked the group.

"We find the runners. We get those devices out of them. We kill the wraith. Problem solved." Ronon said simply.

"We do not know how many wraith are out there." Teyla pointed out. "We may not be able to kill them all."

"Why don't we do what the village guy said and send the runners to another planet to lead the wraith away?"

"Because we have to help the Runners." Ronon replied gruffly.

"We can't take the devices out here; the wraith will go spastic and kill a few villages off to teach the people a lesson about messing with their game." Vicky argued.

"How do you know?" Teyla asked.

"You don't hang out with a wraith for a few years without picking up a few things." Vicky shrugged. "We talked about Runners once."

"How about we reach a compromise?" Sheppard interjected. "We take the Runners to another planet, then another, then take out the devices, then bring them back with us."

They all agreed.

"Rodney, go back to the gate and contact Weir tell her to send Becket to the planet where…"

_And so they planned. meanwhile two runners ran a deadly race, in an ultimately fatal game of cat-and-mouse. The wraith no longer sent manageable numbers of wraith at them. They intended to kill the troublesome Runners once and for all. It had never been a game for the Runners, but now it was a game for no-one, including the wraith._


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Two SGA teams were sent to the planet to assist with the mission and instructed to set out for the areas the runners were most likely to have gone.

_Jonathen was on the run. Their last wraith-trap went awry and the wraith were hot on their trail. Every other stride was slower than the one before it. His leg was losing a lot of blood._

_This could be it, he thought to himself. He looked over to the strong boy who ran beside him. I'm sorry kid, he thought, I've taught you all I can. Now this old man is just slowing you down._

_"I've got an idea kid!" he yelled with a straight face. "But I need you to keep running, no matter what it looks like right?"_

_The boy, or rather man now, nodded without looking over. He trusted him without question. He shouldn't, not really. At least, he shouldn't trust him this time._

_Jonathen fell back then stopped. He let out a skull-splitting war cry and lunged at the pursuing wraith. He lost it. He sliced with his short sword, shot with his pistol, and when those were lost he kicked bit and scratched. Red filled his vision and he really could not be certain if it was rage or his own blood. He kept spinning and striking, always waiting for that last moment, when he would be pinned, immobilized and fed upon._

_It never came. Eventually he noticed he wasn't hitting anything. Then he noticed he had no targets. The red faded. Well, the red in one eye at least._

"Are ye done?" Vicky asked the rather large, and rather bloody runner. She was leaning back against a tree cleaning her blade.

The man looked up, gasping. His eyes shot up and looked at the team. They hit Sheppard first, dismissed him casually, appraised Teyla, barely glanced at Rodney, rested enough on Ronon to give a nod of comradely acknowledgment and then came to Vicky. They locked onto her eyes, looked briefly surprised and then wistful.

"Yer only gonna get hurt helpin' me. Not sayin' I ain't grateful," he said gruffly.

"We got a game plan, so don't lose sleep over it." Vicky said casually. "You good enough to keep running?"

"'Fraid not, girly,"

"Curses. Foiled again."

"We still have time before more wraith get on our trail." Ronon observed.

"Not enough, I think," said Vicky.

"Well let's patch him up and we'll see how far we can get before they catch up," Sheppard cut in.

"See what we can do about a stretcher," he added, after the big runner had collapsed.

"Weren't there two runners?" Rodney interjected.

"The kid's farther up ahead," The runner wheezed. Vicky sighed.

"I'll get him."

--

* * *

_--ok, i updated here becuase my moronic computer didnt upload the whole file, sorry, theres more to this chapter. thats what i get for posting late and not editing.--_

* * *

As Arktos ran, it occurred to him that Jonathen had not told him _where_ to run. Subsequently it occurred to him that, if he thought about it, Jonathen had no intention of surviving the so called "plan". He was only sacrificing himself to give him time.

_Damn you old man._ He thought bitterly.

Now he was alone, running and hearing nothing but the thunder of his own heartbeat in his ears. Trees whizzed by him as he picked up speed, fuelled by hurt, anger and a serious intention to not let Jonathen's death be for nothing. He decided to head for the Ring, even though it was likely that the wraith had set up a defence by now. They really weren't screwing around this time. He and Jonathen had grown too far from a thorn in their side to be considered anything less than a serious threat. They had blown up several hives after all.

He had just altered course to make for the gate when something hit him in the back of the head. He swerved to the side, determined not to reduce speed. If he could just outrun them...

Something whizzed by his head again and glanced off a tree somewhat ahead of him. It was a rock. He had another revelation. The first projectile was a rock. Wraith do not throw rocks. If it had been a wraith, his head would be paralyzed, and consequently so would the rest of his body. Therefore, whoever was throwing the rocks must not be a wraith.

Why would someone throw rocks at him?

"I... gasp... said... gasp... stop... gasp... IDIOT."

The voice was feminine, though slightly rough from the exertion of chasing him. And also, familiar. He must not have heard he, so concentrated he was on escape, and his own thoughts.

"Damn it, I'm trying to help!" She gasped. He stopped and whirled around.

"What-" _Wham_ his pursuer slammed into him full force. He fell backwards to the ground and she landed on top of him.

"Yahhhh," she yelled as she fell. She froze for a moment absorbing the shock then turned her angry gaze to him.

"Do you know how hard you are to catch?!" She shrieked. "You're like a frickin'-"

She stopped, recognizing him in the same time he recognized her.

"Victoria," he said breathlessly.

"_You!"_ She spat.

* * *

_--Sorry for the short chapter. I felt bad for not updating this semester but I've got a lot to do. Preparing for my future and all that. I'll start writing again, though I have little time. Working, getting my license, cramming for exams and final projects plus a portfolio course kinda does that to you. Plus math sucks. Anyway, I thought I'd give u a somewhat valid excuse fro my laziness. You probably didn't need to know about my personal life. Cheerio._

_...and holes are very nice and comfortable by the way_

_Frankeh--_


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

_Yay! I love reviews! I thank you for your loyalty. You know, the absolute best wraith fanfiction would have to be the one about Steve….only its on live journal, and they never finished. I was sad. It was my inspiration.Anyway._

* * *

Vicky found Sheppard waiting at the Gate for them. The area around the great ring was littered with dead wraith. Sheppard stood up from his seat on some old ruins and grinned as he approached to greet them. His smile froze at the acidic look on Vicky's face. She seemed uncomfortable near the runner. Had something happened?

He cleared his throat.

"The others have gone through already. Beckett's probably got the tracker out already."

Vicky nodded and Sheppard punched in the address on the pedestal linked to the gate. They stepped through, redialled, to throw off pursuit, and met up with Becket, who started to work on Arktos who insisted he remain awake. Apparently the older runner had gone unconscious from the injuries.

Arktos was vibrating with energy. He was eager to finally be free of pursuing wraith. Well, he was eager to be free of the tracker. He could cause so much more damage if they didn't know where he was.

He grinned to himself and looked at the young woman before him. She was still incredibly beautiful. He platinum hair flowed in a graceful whip from the thong that tied it back, leaving the deadly looking tattoo in full light. The rumours that had abounded about that tattoo in their village. That it meant worshipper, and the overzealous wraith had given it to her unknowing to the hatred she had inside for them. That it was meant to mark her as a pet of sorts. That is was a warning, and not necessarily for humans. Or perhaps the worst rumour, the one that sent shivers up anyone's spine, and had almost gotten her killed out of fear and hatred, that she was a wraith herself, turned human in some horrible experiment.

She sensed his eyes on her and flicked her own emerald orbs in his direction. They narrowed and he looked away, their gaze still burning in his sight. Those eyes. They gave her a fierce beauty like a wild thing that could not be tamed. He had tried once, and she had proved more vulnerable than he had thought, to his charm. She seemed older now, perhaps only because her defences were up before him. He wondered why they burned with such hatred for him. He had done nothing wrong. Perhaps she had had another experience with the wraith that had hardened her heart. Well, we will see about that.

Victoria seemed to have a different idea. _That slimeball is probably mentally undressing me or something. He's definitely thinking about how he can win me over. Well, that womanizer has another thing coming to him._ She grinned thinking of Seth. What would he think if he knew?. She smirked at the expression she could picture on his face, seeing her affection for a wraith over him. A wraith. Fierce enemy, deadly predator, hated monster. She could remember other wraith, and could see how people found them ugly. But for her, Seth was…beautiful. His dramatic brows, and striking hair. His green to aqua skin that was alluring in the darkness. His hungry eyes and predatory stance. _Man I am one sick child, _she laughed to herself, _to find _that _attractive._

As she thought of all the attributes that had made her fall for him, his image changed abruptly to the creature he was now. Gangly, awkward, nearsighted, clumsy, shy and nervous. Her little nerd. It suited his personality she supposed, but she missed the old him. Sometimes she caught glimpses of it when the bickered. When blue eyes turned icy and his brows knitted together. She laughed again. When he was angry then he was a force to be reckoned with. Now he was just adorable.

But she loved him all the same.

After a while, Vicky noticed that Arktos had been talking to her, and had actually assumed she was listening as she had apparently laughed right on cue.

"We're perfect for each other aren't we?"

She snorted and burst out laughing. His face screwed up in confusion, which it probably did a lot for him.

"I don't understand what I did wrong that night you know." He said with a puppy dog look. "All I know is I never got to ask. I got culled that night, on a trading mission by a Rogue."

She sobered up. A Rogue. That's what they used to call wraith that never slept.

"Yeah well, whatever." She said lamely. She turned to Sheppard. "Are we ready to go now or what?"

Sheppard looked at Becket.

"Well, Ronon's got the trackers attached to some poor little animal by now so I guess so." Becket said.

Smart, the animal would give them chase for awhile. Vicky smile thinking about how confused they would be when they should be standing right on top of their prey, but it was nowhere in sight. A squirrel in the trees perhaps.

"Then let's go." Sheppard grunted.

* * *

_God, why won't he leave me alone?_ Vicky rubbed her temples and walked faster, trying to get away from Arktos while trying to find Seth. They'd only jsut arrived in the city and alreay he wouldn't shut up. He kept making jokes and talking about the "good old days".

"You know, speaking of the good old days, what say we pay a visit to the other runner, I think he's recovering in the infirmary." she suggested through gritted teeth. Maybe he would be distracted by his comrade and she could make her escape. She felt bad for dumping this pain-in-the-ass on the old man but she really needed to get away from him.

"Grand idea," he said jovially and led her to the infirmary, actually putting his hand on the small of her back. Vicky, not being in the mood, gave him a violent shove.

"Let's keep the touching to a minimum, shall we?" she said rather loudly.

In his unfathomably dense and illogical male mind, he seemed to actually take her obviously hostile attitude for him as a good sign.

She felt like tearing her hair out.

She was actually twisting strands of her loose hair violently when they entered the infirmary.

The runner was the only patient in the infirmary. Well, besides Rodney, but he didn't count. He was always there, whining about something or other. Originally, Vicky had found this behaviour, as well as his other mannerisms unquestionably stupid and irritating, but now he was positively endearing.

The runner looked up at them and grinned at Arktos. They greeted each other in the manly way, with much grunting and back pounding. She rolled her eyes.

"So, I don't think I ever got introduced to this particular saviour of mine.' He winked at her and she had to smile. "Who's this beautiful young lady?"

She heard a snicker behind her. "Some 'lady'."

Her eyes narrowed and the punched Seth in the arm.

"Bite me, oh nerdly one." She grinned. He smiled back at her. Chalk one for his human form. He smiled more often.

"This is Victoria, Jonathen," Arktos said not noticing their friendly exchange.

The runner looked a little startled and stared at her strangely.

"Victoria what?" he asked with a strangled tone.

"Smith." She said giving him a suspicious look.

"It can't be," he whispered hoarsely, tears shining in his eyes. "You were taken…"

She looked at him, really _looked_ at him.

_Oh my God._

"_Father_?"

* * *


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

_Father?_ Seth's jaw nearly dropped open. Her father. His brain function seemed to grind to a halt. He watched numbly as she tackled the bedridden runner and they threw their arms around each other. There was general confusion as they asked the same questions of each other at the same time, and sorted out how each of them had survived so far, respectively.

"All this time I had thought…" Jonathen paused here, seemingly lost in the moment of seeing his long lost daughter. "I fought so hard to avenge you and your mother. Your mother!" he suddenly sat upright. Where is she" is she…?"

"She's dead, dad. I watched the wraith steal her life before my very eyes. She meant to stop them from taking me," Here, Victoria spoke in a hoarse whisper, both sorrowful and angry. "They meant to make me a worshipper. Maybe because I was so young they thought I could be…moulded. That's what this tattoo means: worshipper." She pointed to the side of her face.

She took a deep breath and laughed. Seth wondered if she was considering the irony. She had once said that she was a wraith worshipper in a way, but only for him. He blushed at the thought.

"I could see from your fighting ferocity that you are anything but," her father grinned with pride. She smiled.

Seth nearly jumped out of his skin when her father turned his gaze to him and met his eyes. He had thought he was doing fairly well in remaining inconspicuous.

"Is this young man to thank for your rescue?" Jonathen winked at him. "Am I right in presuming you shared a similar experience at the hands of the wraith?"

Seth nearly had his knees buckle in relief. It was amazing, her father had given him the perfect alibi. He had assumed their similar tattoo meant that they both had been taken as children to be indoctrinated as worshippers. And that he was the mysterious rescuer she had described in her tale of escaping from the wraith.

"Yup, that's Seth. He had been with the wraith longer when I was taken, so he figured he'd be missed so he didn't come with me. He escaped later, we bumped into each otherand well, here we are." She lied smoothly. Seth was amazed at her ability to weave such excuses on the spot.. "I guess they liked him 'cause he's got their hair." She winked at him. He narrowed his eyes and gave her a withering look.

"Hilarious," Seth drawled.

"I thought so,' Vicky grinned childishly.

He simultaneously rolled his eyes and shook his eyes, and yet, he still felt that was not enough to express the continual exasperation he felt for this human female.

* * *

Vicky couldn't seem to contain her excitement. Her father listened patiently as she babbled all about her life after they'd lost each other, and her adventures with Seth. She tended to avoid these last tales unless she could confidently alter them on the spot so it seemed as if Seth was not the alien he was. Often she explained his unwillingness to enter the village as though he was afraid of their reaction to his 'wraith-like appearance' in combination with his tattoo. It wasn't far from the truth, considering she was often scorned or mistaken for a wraith because her hair was very light in colour and her tattoo was very inhuman.

"I'm sorry, here I am babbling on about myself when I should be letting you have a word in edgewise," Vicky apologized meekly. Her father laughed and caught her in a warm embrace.

"I enjoy hearing all about my little girl," he whispered.

She hugged him tightly. He hadn't changed at all.

* * *

"Ahh, she's just like I remember," Arktos said fondly. "All fire playing hard to get." He winked at Seth, who gagged silently and tried to resist rolling his eyes.

_What is it about this insufferable man that he cannot see how much people dislike him_?

"But I've finally found her again, and this time, she's going to marry me, see?"

"Oh, really?" Seth practically growled. He felt himself slouching into the predatory wraith posture. _I guess humans possess the same territorial and possessive emotions that we wraith do._

"Because she won't want to risk wasting time playing coy, when she realises I could be taken by the wraith at anytime, like last time."

_Deluded fool. She wishes you_ were_ taken by the wraith again.­_

Or at least, he hoped she felt that way. She had been rather enamoured of this human before, would she…? No, after all they had been through and done, surely she was his. But, could she be fickle like he had heard of wraith queens, who went from mate to mate, depending on who was the strongest or most intelligent?

_And now I am surely the weaker, _he thought with dread, _and she has hinted before that she preferred his wraith form. Despite all my efforts to please her, perhaps I have been doing just what will push her away. Was my choice to become human a mistake? No, I will never kill a sentient being. I have to believe this was the right choice. But I am surely losing her…_

"She has expressed this wish?" he finally replied.

"Well she was smiling when I offered, it think we can safely say that's a yes," Arktos chuckled.

"What?" Seth whispered in a strangled voice. _Surely not. She would… but such a human mating is permanent!_

Arktos didn't seem to hear.

"But I have to ask her father first."

"You do?" Seth asked confused.

"Oh right you were raised by the wraith. It's tradition."

"I see. Perhaps we can continue this conversation at a later time. I have duties to attend to." _Namely, locating Victoria._

Seth left the easily confused Arktos behind as he stalked in the general direction of Vicky's quarters, lost in thought.

_What can I do? Beg for her to change her mind? Show strength by demanding she reconsider? No, that is not a good idea I think. What can I do, but to let her slip between my fingers? Should I do nothing?_

_The least you can do is talk to her. There is no harm in that. Though, I will not entertain notions that this has been a misunderstanding. Never set oneself up for a fall._


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

A/N: Yes, I am back…from outer space!! Sorry bout the wait on that last one I was otherwise occupied…anyhoo. Righto, lets get to it.

**Chapter 19**

Jonathen whistled merrily as he made his way to his daughter's quarters. After he and she had parted, Arktos had come to ask for her hand. They had been through a lot together and were very close so he knew he was the perfect man for her. They shared a laugh when Arktos admitted that he had already garnered her answer before he came to Jonathen.

His little girl really had grown up.

As he rounded the corner he noticed that another was heading towards Vicky's quarters from another direction. It was that slender boy with the strange white hair. He looked angry about something and was nervously fretting about his glasses; adjusting them, taking them off and cleaning them repeatedly. The replaced glasses enhanced the startled look he gave Jonathen when he noticed the man.

Seth, not really knowing why, increased his speed, feeling as though it was incredibly important that he beat her father there. It was a completely illogical apprehension and so, feeling foolish, he hoped that it was interpreted as though he wanted to talk to her father.

Just as he was about to open his mouth, the door to Victoria's quarters opened and she stepped out. All three of them shared a small moment of awkward silence. Then they all spoke at once.

"Victoria," Seth started suddenly. "I need -wish- to speak to you."

"Hey what's wrong?" she said simultaneously noticing his distress from the unsteady wobble in his voice.

"Victoria I came to congratulate you and tell you that you made a great choice." Her father also said.

"Wait, whoah, back up," Victoria said raising her hands. She noticed Seth shoot her father a somewhat irritated glance. _What is going on? _"One at a time. What choice?"

"To marry Arktos." Her father replied.

"Saypardonmewha?" Vicky blurted in confusion. Then it sunk in. "Who said I was going to marr-" Then, realising only one person would have perpetrated that sort of information, and laughed. Hard.

Jonathen watched in confusion as his daughter fell to the floor in hysterics, crying from her mirth. He shared a questioning glance with Seth.

"Wow, what a moron," she said, gasping between bouts of laughter. "I can't believe he- waaahahaha….I can't believe he- you thought- eeeheeeehehehe."

She wiped her tears away, giggling less forcefully.

"Wait. You are not marrying him?" Seth dared to hope.

Vicky sighed, laughter petering out. She looked up at him and noticed the relief on his face.

"Silly goose, you know you're the man I want, dummy." She smiled affectionately.

Jonathen raised a hand in protest. "Hold up, what's going on."

Vicky stood up and curled around Seth's arm.

"I don't know what Arktos told you, but, let's just say, I wouldn't marry him if he was the last man in the galaxy." She paused and added under her breath. "The last _human_ man anyway."

Seth heard her last comment and grinned widely. He swept her up in a rough playful hug and whispered in her ear.

"I am so relieved."

When he let her go she playfully head butted him and then faced her father. He said nothing but raised a singular brow.

"Well now that the humour of this situation has worn off," Vicky said brushing herself off. "I think I'm going to give that slime-ball a piece of my mind."

"That could prove difficult," Seth said seriously. The others looked up at him.

"Why?" they both inquired.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you had anything in that empty space between your ears."

"You…are…A DEADMAN!!" Vicky shrieked and ran after him as he made a hasty retreat down the hallway, chuckling as he went.

Arktos smiled as Vicky approached. She smiled too, however it was not quite the same. While his was friendly, affectionate and just a bit dopey, hers was the kind of smile you'd expect to see on a nasty witch before she cackles, or on an evil mastermind before he "bwahaha"s.

It felt good to literally wipe that smile off his face.

He stood there for a moment, holding his rapidly reddening cheek with one hand, stunned.

"Let's get this straight; I wouldn't marry you if you were the last human male in existence. Got it?"

She made to turn around, but then felt something. Something that gave her pause because it was the last thing she expected to feel for this man: guilt. And pity, but guilt was the major player here.

Sure he was somewhat lecherous, and a moron, and an idiot and exasperating and annoying, but she hadn't exactly been a saint to him. He was a person like anyone else, even if she didn't like him. She sighed.

"Look, you're a good-looking guy, but you're not for me. Some other girl will be swooning after you some day in your future. Don't hang around here waiting for her, or looking for her in me."

_I would recommend Teyla but I wouldn't dare curse her with his exasperating personality._ She left that last thought unvocalised.

With that she turned and left.

The next day Arktos left the city.

* * *

A/N: - look im actually using this now ;)

Sorry this one's short and it jumps around but it's a transition piece. We'll be getting to some exciting plot soon. As in, in a chapter or two. This is pretty good for me, the Plotless Wonder.

Toodles.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

_A/N: heh heh…don't shoot me…I really don't have a good excuse….except writer's block. I mean, I have the rest of this story planned out, but I suck at transitions. Apologies to my lady friend, you know who you are. I'm introducing your river soon enough.. Anyway. I hope to update more frequently now that backtoschool excitement finally died down _

"So what are we here for again?" Vicky asked as she skipped down the steps from the 'Gate.

"Were you not paying attention during the briefing?" Teyla asked chidingly.

"She was asleep," Ronon grunted. "With her eyes open."

"It looks like someone _else_ wasn't paying attention _either._" Vicky muttered. "At least not to the briefing."

Sheppard gave her an exasperated look.

"What? I never need to know half the stuff that's said anyway," She responded defensively.

"Half of the stuff that's said is what where doing here," Rodney said condescendingly.

"Exactly, that's the half I need to know." Vicky chirped. "And due to your lengthy and unfortunately boring explanations I'm asleep long before we _get_ to that half." She sighed dramatically.

Rodney was too miffed to reply so Teyla, surprise, surprise, interjected to smooth his ruffled feathers.

"Rodney explained to us that, simply put, on this planet there might be a ZPM."

"Really? That's good," She looked suspiciously at Teyla. "However, I am sensing a 'but' here."

"More recent ancient data suggests that the wraith had set up a lab where the ZPM was hidden." Rodney supplied.

"Of course they did. Bloody fantastic," Vicky muttered. She observed the scenery around her in silence for a while.

It was the perfect lazy summer day; everything was bathed with a warm golden glow. Ironic how perfect the weather could be when you knew damn well there were monsters lurking in the shadows. Somehow, the wraith made you think of rainy or cloudy days, with a bitter chill wind or a deafening silence. But not today. The blue sky was even dotted with perfectly fluffy clouds. They looked like scoops of ice cream. Vicky's stomach rumbled. She almost wished they were ice-cream. Then again, seeing ginormous floating sundaes and not being able to reach them at her current state of starvation might be too much torture to take. Then again, _again_, even if she could reach them she'd only throw them right back up (out of her stomach, not back into the sky). Whatever bug she'd caught, she sincerely hoped would be gone soon. She didn't want the doc stopping her from going on missions because of a little upset stomach. She did feel mild worry and guilt that whatever it was could be contagious, or as Rodney would skew it, 'potentially infectious and/or fatal', because she hadn't told any lanteans she might be sick. In Atlantis, even a harlmess cold could quickly turn for the worse. It might turn out to be a deadly unknown virus that erases everyone's memories or turns them all into dogs, or something. Or sundaes.

She was dragged out of her subsequent thoughts of every sort of food she could think of and into the apparently ongoing conversation by the whine of Rodney's voice. Well, perhaps whine was a tad mean. Rodney was actually one of her favourite people. She didn't know many people but still.

"…sort of a coincidence that the wraith just _happened_ to set up a lab smack down on the hiding place of a ZPM? Is no one else worried about this?" he demanded.

"That worries me, actually." Vicky replied gravely. Ronon gave her a sceptical look.

"Really." Ronon commented, deadpan.

"Just what is that supposed to mean caveman?" Vicky asked dramatically, quirking an eyebrow.

"I mean that I don't understand why we're trusting you to guard our back."

"What?"

"You're friends with a wraith. Close friends. How close are you exactly with the wraith?" He turned to confront her.

Teyla stopped as well. "Ronon…"

"Excuse me?" Vicky said quietly. She appeared unnervingly still, deceptively calm. Her head tilted down but her eyes looked up to meet his, smouldering.

"They don't even need to offer you anything, do they? You'd sell us out because you adore them so much."

"You son of a bitch…" Vicky dropped like a stone, her foot striking out like a viper as she swept Ronon's feet out from under him. He started to roll to his feet but she had already turned and slammed her other heel into his nose, stunning him long enough for her to position herself on top of him, knife to his throat.

"You aren't the only human in the galaxy who's suffered their hand," she growled. "No child should have to watch their mother's life wither away in an instant, to a monster made of nightmares. I may be friends with Seth, but that doesn't make me fear or hate his race any less. In a fight between them and me, or some other human, you can damn bet I'm going to gut that life-sucking creature without a second thought."

With that she stood up, brushed herself off and cleared her throat.

"Well, let's get a move on shall we?"

Ronon got up, oddly mortified at Teyla glared daggers at him.

"if you too could stop notifying every wraith within a hundred miles of our presence…" Sheppard ground out.

"Shure thing Johnny," Vicky chirped. "Find me a particularly large gag I can shove in this idiot's stupid mouth and we just might-"

"Hey wait up," Rodney interrupted, so immersed in his various gadgets that he hadn't even noticed the violent exchange. "I'm getting readings from that uh, odd looking rock pile over there. I want a closer look."

Col. Sheppard glanced at Teyla questioningly.

"I am not sensing anything." She responded.

The next half hour of Vicky's particularly wonderful day was spent listening to Rodney's excited techno-babble as he oohed over the ancient writings he had miraculously found on the rocks. She wandered over to Sheppard, told him she was going to set up a perimeter, just in case, and then ambled away. Teyla, equally bored decided to join her. Ronon, remembering the bitter argument, wouldn't dare.

The pair walked in peaceful silence, Teyla looking around them, Vicky looking to the sky.

"Please be patient with Ronon Dex, he is very-' Teyla began, breaking the silence.

'Don't worry about it. I get his perspective. I'm just temperamental. Emphasis on the 'mental,'" Vicky cut her off. "I just… I just wish that, for all the technology the Ancestors created, they had one that read a person's reliability or loyalties. Then I wouldn't have to leave him behind."

Teyla didn't have to ask who 'him' was.

"One wittle bunny," Vicky sang softly looking at the clouds. 'Two little bunny-"

She stopped. The trees were silent. Teyla stopped as well sensing the dart shortly before it's sinister whine broke the silence.

"Wraith!" She breathed unnecessarily. They both spun on their heels and ran for their companions. Just as Teyla radioed them, they heard the whirring of wraith beaming technology. Vicky pushed Teyla sideways, but she needn't have. The wraith were beaming down.

A group of faceless cronies led by an unmasked leader arrived directly in Vicky's path. Her heels dug deep into the earth as she desperately tried to reverse her momentum, and she nearly fell, overbalanced. She scrambled a moment, flinching as blue light streaked past her and splattered briefly on the surrounding trees.

She had no idea where Teyla was, so desperate was her own situation. She dashed into some trees, which provided enough cover for her panic to fade and for her to think clearly. Diving for cover behind a rocky ledge, she whipped out her energy pistol in one hand and a wicked blade in the other. She bobbed up and shot blindly, hoping to make them pause enough in their shooting to look for cover. She picked off a few who had not had the mind to follow their companions into the bush, and then ducked down as the remaining wraith located cover and opened up on her position. Timing the rhythm of their fire, Vicky bobbed up again. Her head had barely cleared the edge of the ledge when she was hit squarely in the face. Her head snapped back and she lost consciousness.

The lead wraith, responsible for the excellent shot that had taken down their troublesome prey, swaggered towards the human female fluidly. He stopped when he stood directly over her body. His foot soldiers knew enough at leas that regardless of the shot, the prey was his. He looked down at her, grinning evilly, hunger burning in his amber reptilian eyes. She retained a defiant frown, even in oblivion.

_It would be better, perhaps, if she were awake as her life is stolen away, captain?_ An uncharacteristically intelligent grunt queried.

_It would, _he agreed. She was no fragile villager. She looked at if she knew how to use those deadly blades and had been well seasoned with their employ. He tilted her face with his foot and it fell to the side. His eyes widened in surprise. A lost worshipper, from a hive that had been destroyed long ago. The first hive to be awakened. How curious.

_She will waken soon enough._ He commented and reached his hand for her heart. _No human could ever sleep through this._


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: glad to see I still have loyal readers, despite my laziness. I wouldn't have blamed any of you for mutinous behaviour. In any case, I'm happy I make a good enough story for people to want to follow, I'm not exactly a brilliant writer, though, if I may, I am a brilliant thinker XP. Which sucks, because I have so much to say but never get it out quite right.

It's a short one I should have published a while ago, ill try to make up for it by quickly posting a longer one

Keep reviewing!

**Chapter 21**

Teyla hoped desperately that John and the others would reach her in time as she ran through the trees. Victoria, a much faster runner, had reached them first and subsequently disappeared from sight. Teyla hoped she hadn't run down the same path; it would pin her between two groups of wraith. As a means of focusing herself, she prayed to the ancestors that the younger woman would escape her pursuers.

Teyla stood no chance if she turned and faced the wraith alone, but she knew she couldn't keep running and hope that the team would catch up so she settled into a pattern of run, hide, ambush and run again. As she crouched by her latest hiding place, just about to ambush the group chasing her, she heard a sound that broke her heart and sent chills down her spine. A ragged scream ripped through the air, the kind of scream that rasps at the very top of your lungs as if they were tearing out. The scream petered out and then stopped.

A scream like that could only mean one thing. But it was impossible. No-one had ever died on their team. No-one. Even John had escaped death by that fate. But there was no-one, no temporary ally to give Vicky her life back and no miraculous cure. Even if she was still alive, Teyla was too far away to hope to save her now. As she crouched, motionless in shock, the wraith that had been chasing her turned in the direction of the other wraith and left.

Teyla struggled with the decision to brashly run to avenge the death of her newest friend and comrade by herself, or to circle back to her team. _Return to your team foolish one,_ she thought to herself, _they shouldn't have to avenge your death too._

"_John,_" She radioed again, voice cracking.

"Teyla? Thank god, we thought-"

"John, they killed her,"

Sheppard swore over the radio.

"We're close to your position, _stay there_,"

"Very well…" The words barely made it past Teyla's constricting throat.

* * *

Your life is supposed to flash before your eyes when you die.

Everyone says so, anyway.

Not that anyone lives through death to tell.....then where had the freaking stories come from?

Regardless, what Vicky _really_ wanted to know was why the hell the infinite cosmos was depriving Vicky of her well deserved show?

Her throat was raw. She'd woken up screaming from the intense pain that only wraith can inflict. Once she realised what was happening, with painful clarity, she determinedly shut her mouth, muffling her screams until they were snuffed. She clenched her teeth, eyes scrunched shut.

_Ancestors, _she thought to herself,_ as adolescent as this sounds, I'd at least like to see his face before I die. Actually,_ she smiled faintly, _I'd love to have one night in particular flash before my eyes right now._

Time seemed to slow. She found, to her surprise that she could - _sense_- what the wraith who was currently snacking on her, was thinking. Not specific thoughts, just impressions.

_The rat bastard! He thinks defiance is tasty! All that work _**not**_ to give him the satisfaction of witnessing my fear and pain was wasted. The stupid infinite cosmos cheats me of that too. Actually, it doesn't hurt that much anymore…_

_It doesn't hurt…_

_I must be dying._

_Stupid cosmos. I'm still not seeing my life flash before my eyes. I'll have to do it myself, lazy bastard._

She smiled, picturing him. Awkward and nerdy, as a human, glasses askew. Proud and fierce, as a wraith, grinning a sharp toothed smile. She thought of their childhood. Their time apart, and how easy it was to pick up where they had left off. Almost losing him, then, to save his life he has to forget everything, forget her. But he doesn't. She smiled again. He remembered me. His strange blue eyes, more human than wraith, even before he changed….

… … …

_Or is it lazy bastards plural? Is cosmos singular?_

_Why am I contemplating such trivial random things as I die?_

_Why am I taking so long to die?_

_Hey, wraith, can you hear me? Am I dead yet?_

_Answer me! Is this it or not?_

She thought of that night.

_I wanted to die in His arms…_

…

_Oh God I'm a weenie._

Vicky felt her body give one last violent…._something_ and she felt herself falling away.

* * *

Seth did not like the looks on the faces of Shepherd's SGA team as they walked to the briefing. As they walked to the briefing without Victoria. He grabbed John's shoulder and spun him around. He ignored Ronon's threatening change in posture and opened his mouth to demand an explanation. He was stopped cold by the look in John's eyes. He stared at the man. He felt Teyla put her hand on his own shoulder and pull him aside.

He wasn't sure he actually heard what Teyla said to him, because shortly after the words exited her mouth, his ears were filled with a buzzing noise. Everything seemed unfocused. He felt numb. Like he was only watching the proceedings around him through a television set.

He was aware of an aching pain building in his throat constricting his airflow.

He backed away from her, denying it. He ran to Her room, tore it apart searching for Her. Ran to all of the places She liked to go. When They came for him, he fell limply in Their arms, and They had to drag him away.


End file.
